


Living in Color

by snugglesformuggles



Series: Bond au [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Also super Coran appreciation, Auras, Bond AU - Freeform, Childhood Trauma, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Angst, Its a Thing, M/M, Psychic Bond, Sappy, Shiro being a butt a LITTLE, Soul Bond, Tooth-rotting variety, a lot of emotions, i'll add tags as it goes along, idk how to really explain it, memory sharing, mind-meld situation, oh they get a pet, quintessence mind bond?, so much fluff y'all, there will be a lot of cute, weird Voltron quintessence stuff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-19
Updated: 2020-10-23
Packaged: 2021-03-04 23:56:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 43
Words: 106,981
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25384915
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snugglesformuggles/pseuds/snugglesformuggles
Summary: It was just a simple mind-meld exercise. But something seems to happen in the middle and now Lance and Keith can feel each other's emotions. Lance realizes that Keith actually desperately wants to be open and vulnerable around people and Keith realizes that Lance just wants someone to notice him. They try to navigate their new reality.
Relationships: Keith/Lance (Voltron)
Series: Bond au [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1983022
Comments: 387
Kudos: 978
Collections: Just some pretty nice fics





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> HEY THERE KLANCE SLUTS time for another one!!!  
> This is absolutely completely different in vibes than my others, but I wanted something more in the symbolic realm.  
> Also shoutout to the iconic Purpleneutrino's "Entangled" that this is very, very loosely based on. It has totally different dynamics and interactions, but the idea came from that so go over and give them some kudos

Lance had been having strange dreams. And generally, feeling off in a way. As though his emotions were beginning to feel less in control and foreign to him.

It all started when the team was doing another team bonding exercise with the mind helmets, after the new information of Keith’s heritage. Shiro wanted to see if it would change anything with the bonds with their lions.

They decided to do it in the lions’ hangar, so that the lions could be added into the mix.

Lance’s mind was more open than he had it before, with the addition to Blue’s familiar cooling presence over his head. He let himself dwell in it, tasting saltwater and smelling the sunscreen and coconut from his home on the beach of Varadero.

The helmet let himself taste the edges of everyone else’s minds and lions too. He wanted to focus on Blue and himself, but it was hard with the stimulation from everyone else’s emotions and the presences of all the other lions.

“Wow, this is…a lot,” Hunk said, sounding winded.

“I know this is a lot of stimulation, but try to focus on your own lion and adding it to the idea of Voltron, rather than getting lost in the mix,” Shiro said.

Lance was surprised to taste the edge of Shiro’s sense of overstimulation. It reminded him of the sounds of dominoes falling over the floor, making him flinch.

He breathed in and out, feeling over everyone else, without meaning to. His curiosity was too much.

Pidge’s mind felt like when he had stayed up all night to study for an astrophysics exam at the Garrison. The smell of printed paper and the dizziness of stress and too much responsibility flitting through his head.

Lance tried to reign in his concern for her but took a mental note to bring her more food when she got too into projects.

He moved on to feel for Hunk, nearly sighing with relief at how warm and comforting it felt. It was as though he just sat at his dinner table, smelling the homecooked meal and laughing at his dad’s jokes.

Lance tasted the edge of anxiety and nervous energy that came along with Hunk, a burning sensation at the back of his throat.

He coughed at it, retreating away. He took a moment to settle back into himself, then he was actually approached by a mind all on its own.

Lance recognized this immediately. This time, there was a fire at the back of his head, a red sunset and hot sweltering burn on his skin. He tasted dirt and sand, but focused on it, nonetheless.

Keith was a passionate person, he knew that. But, this was feeling it as his own and he could nearly pass out at how much emotion washed over him. The strength, the determination, the bare edges of a short temper and his heart sped up in his chest.

His eyes blew open and he breathed deeply, unable to keep himself from looking at Keith in shock.

Keith was staring at him, wide-eyed and slack jawed.

“Lance? What are you doing?” Shiro asked, opening his eyes too. “I feel you trying to push.”

Lance snapped out of it, face burning with embarrassment.

“Oh-I-uh, sorry. It felt like something I was…supposed to do? I don’t know how to explain it…”

His voice cracked a little and he cringed.

Keith blinked at him, then Lance tensed when he felt Keith’s mind again, this time muted and a forefront emotion that felt more like a conscious decision.

Lance felt Keith trying to comfort him through the connection and he was thrown.

His face burned and he turned away, breaking off his connection entirely, ripping off the helmet.

“I don’t think this is working and I’m getting a headache. I’m over it,” Lance said, voice strained.

He stood and hurried out, ignoring the arguments from his teammates.

It’d been two days since, but Lance is sure that something went wrong.

The first night he had a strange nightmare.

He was looking in the mirror, but it was Keith’s face looking back. He didn’t have time for surprise as pain erupted in his chest and he doubled over, groaning.

Sharp pinpricks erupted underneath his skin, running all over him and feeling like ants in his epidermis. He scratched at it, but yelled when instead of usual blunt nails, claws had dug in.

He panted from adrenaline as he watched purple fur grow out of his arms and felt it under his clothes, staring in shock as his (or Keith’s?) hands changed into paws, then his eyes found the mirror.

Keith’s face had changed into a Galra’s.

Lance woke up with a gasp, breathing heavily and looking down immediately, relieved when he saw his own hands and not Galra Keith’s. His head hurt from so many emotions, unable to recognize what they were.

The entire rest of the day he was on edge and he avoided Keith as much as possible. Sometimes, he would get a surge of emotions that didn’t at all match what was happening to him.

Lance actually had to leave the room once, because he was so angry at literally nothing. He didn’t want to accidentally snap at Hunk or Pidge, who he’d been hanging out with, so he went back to his room and just seethed for no reason whatsoever.

He felt the edges of something else going on.

That night, he had another dream. It was simple, he was in the desert outside the Garrison, the one they found the blue lion in.

He was sitting on a rock ledge, feeling lost and confused. He wanted to find a purpose and a reason to keep going.

Lance looked over and saw Keith right next to him, tears running down his face as he stared at the sunset. He looked like he had been punching something, hands without the fingerless gloves and bleeding around the knuckles.

Keith didn’t seem to notice him, just continued to stare out at the sunset. Lance nearly jumped when he let out a small sob, hands coming up and clenching in his hair.

Lance had woken up, breathing heavily through the grief and despair still swirling in his chest.

He sat up, then his hand came up to his face, surprised to feel wetness under his eyes.

Lance sniffed and wiped it away.

Was that…a memory? Of Keith’s?

It certainly wasn’t his own. And even if he could guess at how Keith had felt in that year in the desert, he would not have had any way of actual feeling it himself.

He looked at the wall that separated his room and Keith’s, sorrow and sympathy filling his system. This time he was sure it was his own.

Lance decided then that he would start to be a lot nicer to Keith.

Even as over the year of being in space, he realized that Keith wasn’t someone who wanted to fight all the time or bicker. He started to be more friendly rather than combative to Keith, which lent itself to a more genuine friendship.

Well, maybe more of an acquaintanceship, but progress is progress.

Lance got out of bed and headed into the bathroom. He still felt the edge of red-tinged consciousness floating around the top of his mind.

He splashed some cold water over his face, trying to cool himself down.

Lance was hesitant to really investigate the muted mind that was still in his head, but he had staunchly refused to acknowledge it for two whole days and he couldn’t take it anymore.

He closed his eyes, breathing deeply and opening his mind, letting tendrils of it reach out and feel out the other presence.

Lance nearly doubled over with the new emotions that got sent through the connection.

Keith’s mind was shocked, confused and somewhat afraid.

Lance’s hand came up to hold his forehead as a strong push on the other side sent his own mind careening back into his own head. A sharp spike of pain erupted at the aggression and he hissed in a breath.

“Ow, damn it, that hurt,” he breathed out, blinking away the white blotches that painted in the edges of his vision.

He stared at himself in the mirror, then closed his eyes again. He felt out for any other minds, searching out Pidge’s familiar stress or Hunk’s comforting warmth.

Lance only felt the barest edges of Keith’s frightened mind, retreated into his own mind as best he could.

So, it was only Keith. Interesting.

Lance breathed in and out, hoping for a calming presence and he searched out Keith’s rolling ball of nerves one more time.

He sent out a conscious reassurance and translated it was just him.

_Come on, samurai. It’s just me. I want to see what this is about…_

Keith’s mind seemed to then slowly unroll itself, curiously. Lance could almost see Keith’s strangely purple eyes blinking at him, surprised by the new connection.

Lance let Keith hesitantly investigate his own mind, confusedly.

It was like dealing with a skittish animal in a bush, holding out a hand and making soft noises of encouragement. It seemed as though Lance had noticed the connection before Keith did, so it was entirely new.

Keith’s reddish conscious had other colors to it. Lance didn’t notice that before, but now in the dead of night and with walls down, Lance saw the purple and midnight blue tinges swirling in Keith’s aura.

Lance felt hot again, as though he had been sitting in the sun on the beach for hours.

Keith’s emotions were getting out of control again.

He opened his eyes, trying to gather his own mind, keeping it cool and calming. He actually ran the tap again and stuck his hands under them, looking for a physical way of combating the new wave of emotions.

_Calm down, Keith. It’s just me._

Lance breathed out as Keith’s conscious felt a strange realization, then relief.

_Lance…._

It was his turn to back up in surprise at the new surge of emotions. Keith was now strangely elated. Lance nearly laughed out loud, picturing a dog seeing their owner again after a long time away from them, jumping around his mind, excited.

“Well, hi there samurai…” he said, feeling himself grin, in spite of himself.

He couldn’t take it anymore and he rushed out of his room, skidding to a stop at the sight of Keith right outside his door.

“What the hell-,”

“Is that you?”

“What is going-,”

“Seriously? That’s actually-,”

Lance stopped the strange swirl of minds connecting and verbal babble that they started at each other with a physical touch, laying his hands on Keith’s shoulders.

“Okay, hold on now. This is like…really a lot to feel,” he said, breathing deeply.

Keith’s eyes widened and Lance felt the edges of hesitance, fear and reluctance as Keith tried to retreat again.

“Wait, no, not-,” Lance said, guilty.

Keith groaned as he must have felt the change in Lance’s emotions too.

“Actually, yeah it kind of is. What-how did this happen?” Keith asked, coming to an unstable equilibrium.

Lance backed away and tried to quell his own anxiety and he breathed, deeply.

“I have…no idea. I noticed because I keep on having, uh, dreams? Memories? Of yours…I think?” he said, reluctantly.

Keith’s mind started with fear and embarrassment, just as Lance actually saw the expression form.

“You-you are? What-what have you-,” he asked, eyes wide with fear.

Lance flinched as the strange bond between them changed and grew dark, Keith’s mind tinging more with crimson red and orange.

“Nothing crazy…” Lance said, cringing as his head started to hurt from the strain. “Just a few…images.”

As the dream floated up from his own memory, it seemed like Keith could actually see it as their emotion entwined.

Keith deflated as the edges of the memory washed over them both, the colors shifting to more purple and edges of midnight blue sneaking in.

Lance sighed, letting his own empathy and caring nature take over and enveloped Keith’s sorrowful and melancholy energy, with a strange mind hug.

“Oh, wow…that’s really….” Keith said, as he breathed through the sensation.

Lance smiled at him, kindly. “It’s okay. I thought it was my own dreams, but ever since that mind meld a few days ago, I think I’ve been feeling you.”

Keith hummed, seemingly trying to control the emotions that bubbled up in his chest. Lance was impressed with how much it worked, only noticing the muted changes of emotion.

“We should…probably figure this out, right?” Keith said, rubbing at his temples. “It’s really…overwhelming I think…”

Lance couldn’t help trying to pull in his own mind, worrying that it was his fault for overstimulating Keith.

“Wait, no-that’s not what I meant,” Keith said, mind reaching out again.

Lance took a deep breath, then grabbed Keith’s hand.

“It’s the middle of the night, but I won’t sleep again thinking that maybe you could invade my dreams again, so we’re going to talk to our lions. I think this feels sort of similar to that, so I want to see if they can help get us more…in control,” he said, pulling Keith along.

Keith accidentally sent some surprise and even some strange form of admiration at Lance’s idea through their connection.

Lance hummed, then turned to look at Keith, grinning at him.

“You like the idea?”

Keith’s face and conscious burned with embarrassment for accidentally showing Lance all that.

“Yeah, uh, it’s a good idea. I’m impressed,” he said, avoiding eye contact.

Lance couldn’t help translating the ego boost and elation at impressing Keith.

“Don’t get a big head about it, alright?” Keith mumbled.

He couldn’t fool Lance, though. His emotions only translated amusement and admiration.

Lance grinned at how giddy that made him.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The lions are helping and the boys find some stuff out about each other

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have a lot of this already written out and as everyone already knows, I've got absolutely no patience so I'll probably stick to a two day update schedule

Keith had barely noticed a change in his head until Lance had basically invaded his space through their connection.

In the lions’ hangar, they stopped in front of Red and Blue.

Both of their lions ended up sweeping their energies over them in curiosity.

He backed away in surprise, making a noise of shock at yet another barrage of foreign emotions.

Lance groaned, holding his head. “Wait, wait hold on, this is a lot…”

Both lions retreated back, letting their paladins get used to the sensation.

Keith always thought the red lion was a warm, hot passionate sunset with a striking temper and protective nature, matching his own energy.

And he had been feeling over Lance’s mind for a little bit, now. He felt like a cool breeze on the ocean, with the smell of garlic knots and a strong empathetic side, wanting desperately for everyone to like him and appreciate him. His presence was a clear blue, with white and yellow tinges. At his darkest moments, the tinges turned navy and it reminded Keith of the moon and stars.

The blue lion, however similar felt more calming and soothing, rather than excitable and bright that Lance’s energy pulsed with. It was like a wave against a shore, the smell of saltwater and a sharp breeze ruffling his hair.

“Wow, okay…so uh, can you help us?” Lance asked, looking between the lions. “What’s going on? Why can I…feel Keith?”

The red lion’s presence caged in Keith’s as though to try and physically cut him off. Lance looked at them both, alarmed.

“Wait, no-I just-well, I don’t think it’s a problem, really…unless Keith thinks otherwise?” Lance said, uncertain.

Keith shook his head, then closed his eyes, contacting the red lion specifically.

_It’s okay, I’m not afraid. It’s just Lance, he’s okay._

The red lion grumbled, still protective. She was not wanting to let another person root around in Keith’s head without a specific reason. He sent a gentle grateful feeling to her, then reassured her.

She reluctantly released him, letting in the other two presences again and he breathed out in relief.

“She’s really protective, huh?” Lance asked, nervously looking at Red.

Lance’s swirling mind was tinged with a nervous yellow and brown, making Keith realize he was worried Red was mad at him.

Keith sent a gentle nudge to Red, wanting her to be warm and kind to Lance. She seemed to sigh, then wink at him before enveloping Lance’s energy with a warm embrace.

Lance blinked at her, then his shoulders dropped in relief.

“Oh, okay. Cool, that’s….thanks,” he said, grinning at her. “Wow, you feel really different than Blue.”

“Blue feels really nice. Like…jumping into a cold pool or something,” Keith said, a small smile at the blue lion.

Blue’s energy pulsed with fondness and seemed to almost lick his mind like a small cub. He chuckled.

Lance hummed, closing his eyes and letting the whole swirl of sensations envelope him. Keith felt the twirling tendrils reach deeper into his own mind and resisting the urge to close off again, he let Lance feel around.

“However…weird this is…it’s also really, really cool,” Lance said, energy dancing around with a giddy curiosity. “But, why can’t we feel anyone else? Why is it just me and Keith?”

The red lion hummed with a shrug, swirling around the two of them to see for herself.

_Your quintessences are different, but complementary. Maybe something was unlocked in your last mind meld._

“Complementary?” both Lance and Keith asked, in unison.

They looked at each other with similar swirling confusion and disbelief. Lance’s emotions reminded Keith of a perplexing puzzle piece, trying to fit with his own.

Blue huffed a fond laugh through the connection. Lance turned suspiciously pink at something she seemed to have said to him. His energy squirmed with embarrassment and turned a strange lilac.

Keith looked at them both, confused.

“Wait, did she say something I couldn’t hear?” Keith asked, looking up at Blue.

She swirled her blue, cool energy around him. She communicated much less directly than Red did, more like with feelings and ideas rather than full distinguished words. It reminded him of the differences between Lance and him, with how blunt Keith could be and how strangely cryptic Lance could be.

It took a tick for Keith to understand, as Blue demonstrated how well Lance and Blue’s energies worked together and could communicate together better than Lance and Keith could.

Keith hummed, looking at Lance again. “You think we could communicate like…really? Like somehow make this bond stronger?”

Lance’s mind squirmed with discomfort and he retreated a little. “Do you…want to? I mean this is really cool and all, but…”

Keith sighed and nodded. “You’re worried this will basically invade each other’s privacy? Yeah, I kind of am too.”

Lance blinked. “Wow, yeah. You could feel that?”

Keith shrugged. “It’s not like… _feeling_ it, more like…knowing what you’re trying not to say?”

Lance’s energy shifted again, more reluctant to show feelings.

“So, what? Can we try to…I don’t know…control it more? Give us some more…privacy?” Lance asked the lions.

Red showed them to do that, they needed to strengthen it. Find how deep it ran.

Keith nodded at her, then stepped over to Lance.

“I think we should sit here and try to feel it all out. Maybe experiment some,” Keith said, sitting on the ground.

Lance’s emotions showed a hesitance and slight fear. He reluctantly sat on the ground, cross legged across from Keith.

Keith tried to pulse out a reassurance, wanting Lance to be comfortable. He seemed to relax, energy becoming more blue and cool.

“Okay. So what do we do?” Lance asked, to the entire room.

Blue showed images of them meditating and sending out purposeful images to each other.

Keith hummed, locking eyes with Lance as both their emotions translated an understanding. He closed his eyes and let himself open up again, walls coming down. Lance seemed to do the same, as their colors shifted and interacted with each other with a purpose.

“Okay, I’m going to think of something. Try to see it.”

Keith showed him something simple, imagining a sharp clear apple in his mind.

Lance’s energy surrounded the image in his mind, then he hummed out loud.

“Apple?” he asked, curious.

Keith’s eyes shot open and he laughed in surprise. “Yeah! Yeah, I thought of an apple!”

Lance’s eyes opened too, just as surprised. “Wait, really? Holy shit, that’s cool!”

Both lions rumbled their laughs, proud of their paladins. Lance grinned up at them.

“Okay, you try,” Keith said, gesturing his hand.

Lance nodded, shutting his eyes. Keith reached out with the edges of his mind, feeling over the colors, trying to reach for something clear.

Suddenly, Lance’s mind was stuck on an image of a beach, with a palm tree in picture.

Keith’s eyebrow twitched. “A beach?”

Lance gasped, energy swirling with bittersweet notes of homesickness.

“I’m thinking of Cuba,” Lance said, voice choked with emotion.

Keith’s eyes opened with surprise. Lance was looking at the ground as Blue swirled over him with concern. He sent out a feeling of gratefulness of Lance showing him something that important.

“It’s beautiful,” he said, smiling at him.

Lance looked up and then melted, energy pulsing with pink and yellow.

“What’s pink?” Keith asked, confused as to the foreign emotions.

Lance furrowed his brows in confusion. “What do you mean, pink?”

Keith’s hand pointed to the aura around Lance. “Your…energy. It’s turned pink and yellow. I don’t know what that means.”

Lance cocked his head. “Can’t you feel it, though?”

Keith shrugged. “Sometimes when things are complicated and there are too many emotions, it just kind of blurs. I feel…a homesickness and a bittersweet feeling, but now it’s more…fond? Maybe?”

Lance’s actual face turned pink and his emotions only communicated embarrassment then.

“Oh I-uh, I don’t know what pink is,” Lance said. “Moving on, now. So, could we maybe…do more?”

Keith hummed as the lions set their presences back, to let the paladins focus on each other more.

“Well, you said you saw a memory of mine. Maybe we could show each other more?” Keith said, feeling his own anxiety at that.

Lance nodded, energy still vaguely curious and stuck in wonder.

“Okay, I’ve got something you’ll really like,” Lance said, grinning at his memory.

He closed his eyes and Keith reached out with his mind. This time he didn’t have to root around as the images projected clear into his mind.

It was from Lance’s point of view. He could recognize the Garrison. Hunk was standing right next to Lance. They were standing in a group around the entrance to a simulator.

Keith heard a muddled conversation around him. Lance turned to watch as a younger Keith stepped out of the simulator, turning to an angry Iverson, yelling at Keith.

Lance laughed with Hunk about something when Keith actually rolled his eyes at Iverson.

The present Keith ended the memory by opening his eyes and sighing.

“You’re really showing me the one and only time I failed the simulator because I had a migraine?” Keith asked, nonplussed.

Lance’s eyes opened and he smirked. “Oh, a migraine, I’m sure…”

Keith laughed, shaking his head because their connection only communicated a shared humor and playful teasing.

“Well okay, let me try,” Keith said, searching his memory for something good.

He stuck on one and he let it play out in his mind as clear as he could. It was a memory of him and Shiro. He was sitting on his speeder as Shiro worked on it, underneath the hood. Keith remembered he was maybe thirteen or fourteen.

“Hey…Shiro….can I ask you something?” younger Keith asked, nervously.

Shiro looked up and smiled at him, kindly. “Of course, Keith. What do you wanna know?”

Keith fiddled with his gloves, anxiously. “Uh, when-when did you know you liked boys?”

Shiro blinked, then shut the hood, wiping at the grease on his neck and hands with a rag. He hummed, thinking.

“Probably about your age. Although, I’m pretty sure a part of me has always known,” Shiro said, with a curious eye on Keith. “Why do you ask?”

Keith sighed, bringing his knees up and setting his elbows on them. “There’s…this guy. In my class. He invited me to a party. And I…think he might like me? And-and I think-,”

“You might like him?” Shiro supplied, gently. “Keith, it’s okay no matter who you like. If you find out about yourself that you like boys, girls or both, it’s okay. Take your time. You don’t need to rush it.”

Keith sighed and nodded. “Okay. Yeah.”

The present Keith opened his eyes, not meaning to actually use that memory. It just happened to play out on its own.

Lance energy swirled with curiosity and more…pink.

“Aw, that was…cute,” he said, smiling. “Now I kind of feel bad for making fun of you…”

Keith’s face burned with embarrassment and he turned away. Lance’s mind poked around, truly in reassurance.

“I’m…glad you showed me that. Here, let me make it up to you,” Lance said, closing his eyes.

Keith hummed as a new memory formed in his mind without him even needing to reach out himself.

It was a much younger Lance. This time, Keith saw a white painted house on the seaside, backyard going right onto the beach. Lance was sitting on the porch, a guitar in his hands. The family came pouring out, the yard full of siblings and friends dancing. The memory changed to night, as more emotion took over. Lance and his older brother were sitting on the porch, guitars strumming and voices singing out in Spanish.

Keith felt warmth and family and belonging.

He opened his eyes and felt a stinging behind them as he choked on the emotions, both his and Lance’s.

“Oh, that was-,” Keith said, clearing his throat. “Wow, I can see why you miss Earth so much, now.”

Lance chuckled, leaning back on his hands. “Yeah…that’s life in the McClain family. It’s…nice sharing it with someone like this.”

Keith took a deep breath, finally settling into the hot pot of emotions in the room. He ran an exhausted hand over his forehead.

“Well, that got easier and easier. Although our memories seem to…look different,” Keith said, frowning.

Lance snorted. “Well, yeah we don’t live the same lives.”

Keith rolled his eyes. “Not that. I mean the way they look. Yours is a lot more…I think driven by the emotions you felt. Mine….”

Lance made a noise of acknowledgement. “Oh, yeah. My memories kind of happen like a…swirl of things that went on and yours seem to play out like a movie, one thing after another. A scene or a…line of dialogue.”

Keith nodded, snapping his fingers. “Yes, exactly!”

Lance grinned at Keith’s reaction, emotions turning more pink than blue.

“Well, I’m a lot more emotion driven. You’re a lot more detail oriented,” Lance said, waving a hand. “It makes sense.”

Keith smiled, nodding. “Yeah, yeah. I guess so.”

The lions stepped in, Red pointing out how hungry and tired Keith was getting and Blue seemed to be telling Lance something similar.

“They’re right. We should get some food,” Keith said, sighing.

They stood up together. Lance’s energy changed at the idea of seeing the team. There was more apprehension and darker colors.

“So, do we…tell them? About what’s going on?” Lance asked, gesturing to the door.

Keith frowned, thinking it over. “Let’s do some more…looking into it. Maybe see if there’s some information on the telepathic bonds between the paladins of old and the lions and maybe do more work here with them helping. Right now, it’s…too complicated to explain. I feel like things will just get more confusing.”

Lance nodded, energy getting more stable and blue again. It calmed Keith down and he let a tendril of his mind reach out like a hand to hold. Lance sputtered a small laugh and their minds entwined.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance and Keith ask a man with a glorious mustache some general questions and may get more of an answer than they bargained for

Lance was generally okay with what was happening. He had some apprehension with how deep it seemed to run, but something about it was thrilling, comforting and kind of…incredible.

He also might be in some form of shock. Who knows?

Well, maybe Keith knows.

As they walked into the kitchen, Hunk looked up from the stove.

“Oh, hey! You’re both up pretty early. I’m not surprised about Keith, but I am surprised about Lance,” he said, teasing.

Lance rolled his eyes, peeking over Hunk’s shoulder.

“I’m ignoring that and just seeing what my beautiful, wonderful friend is cooking up for us,” Lance said, sniffing.

“Ah, pancakes?” Both Lance and Keith said, in unison.

They looked at each other just as both their energies surged with surprise.

Hunk looked between them, curiously. “Uh, yeah…I found this mix at the space mall the other day and it was really similar and I wanted to try it.”

Lance hummed, setting himself up to sit on the counter next to Hunk.

“Let me guess, you don’t have maple syrup?” he said, grinning.

Hunk sighed, genuinely upset. “No and I don’t have anything to make something like it. Plain pancakes is the best I can do.”

Keith hummed, leaning on the counter next to Lance. “I’m good with plain pancakes. Better than food goo.”

Lance nodded in agreement. “The samurai is right. And it’s probably even better than whatever he ate in the desert for a year.”

Keith’s energy shifted into slightly more orange than red as he glared. “Hey, I did just fine out there.”

Lance scoffed. He knew just how much that wasn’t true, based on their shared memory dream. Keith seemed to realize that, because his presence around Lance’s mind shrunk back in humiliation.

Lance felt bad for bringing that up, so he sent a small apology through their bond.

“Well, you did find the blue lion’s energy. So, I guess you did okay,” Lance said, casually inspecting his nails.

Hunk blinked at him, then jaw dropped. “Uh, since when did you ever admit how good Keith is at anything?”

Both him and Keith froze.

“Uh, I said _okay,_ that’s barely a compliment,” Lance said, defensive.

Keith’s energy swirled with amusement and turned more red and yellow.

“Yeah, wow thanks. I appreciate it,” Keith said, chuckling.

Lance rolled his eyes at Keith, but he knew his true emotions were being projected.

Keith winked at him from where he stood next to him and Lance huffed, nudging him with his shoulder.

“Don’t get a big head about it, hm?”

Keith’s energy turned even more yellow and bright as he laughed at their inside joke.

Hunk caught his eye with a very suspicious look between them. Lance cleared his throat, embarrassed at getting lost in Keith’s aura and waved a hand.

“So, give me these pancakes! I demand sustenance,” he said, bringing a fist down on his thigh for emphasis.

Hunk chuckled, then held out a plate. It was piled high with at least ten light purple circles that smelled very much like pancakes.

“Go and put this in the middle of the dining table. And _share,”_ Hunk said, pointing at him.

Lance grinned and slid off the counter, taking the plate.

“Yes, sir!”

Hunk waved them off as they headed off to the dining room.

Shiro, Allura and Pidge were already there. They looked up and Lance presented the plate.

“Breakfast is served!” Lance announced, setting down the plate.

Keith’s aura swirled around him in yellow, bright amusement and a pink…something.

The team all looked at him, curiously.

“Well, I’m surprised to see you up so early. And with Keith?” Shiro asked, a questioning eyebrow at his little brother.

Keith’s face suspiciously darkened as more purple edges tinted his energy.

“Oh, I just ran into him on my way here. I was as surprised as you are,” Keith said, as casually as possible.

Lance huffed, indignant. “I can wake up early, you know? That’s never _not_ happened.”

Pidge snorted. “It’s rare, though.”

Lance rolled his eyes. “Says the girl that’s only up at this hour because she didn’t sleep at all.”

Pidge opened her mouth to retort, then shrugged. “Okay, you got me there.”

Lance narrowed his eyes, then slapped a plate down in front of her.

“So, eat. Then I’m making you go to your room for at least two vargas. So you can actually _sleep,”_ he said, finger pointing at her.

Pidge gaped, offended. “Hey, you’re not my dad!”

He then looked at Shiro, expectant.

Shiro chuckled, then nodded. “Lance is right. You should sleep more. And two vargas isn’t that bad. We aren’t scheduled to do anything while the castle is getting fixed.”

Pidge huffed, but began eating her pancakes. “You’re not my _real_ dad.”

Keith’s energy pulsed with fondness and humor as he chuckled.

“Yeah, that never worked with Shiro for me. He just got all upset and made me feel guilty,” he said, sitting at the table and reaching for his own plate.

Shiro rolled his eyes. “You only said it when we would fight. And that was always upsetting.”

Keith’s aura shifted into actual guilt and shame. It colored brown and grey, making it dull and sad in the usual bright, vibrant colors. Lance reached out with his mind, offering support and encouragement the best he could.

“Okay, but I did say it whenever you wouldn’t let me go somewhere,” Keith said, trying for more humor. “Parties and stuff.”

Lance snorted. “Um, what _parties?_ The diligent, brilliant pilot Keith Kogane was a normal teenager who went to parties?”

Keith chuckled, shrugging. His energy evened out to more colorful again.

“Yeah, a few. Shiro didn’t want me to and kept telling me I’d get someone pregnant or die from alcohol poisoning, even though I’m gay as hell _and_ at most had maybe five beers in my entire lifetime,” he said, rolling his eyes.

Shiro blinked, then narrowed his eyes. “Excuse me, when did you have _any_ beers in _any_ lifetime?”

“Hold up, you’re _gay?”_ Pidge asked, eyes wide.

“What is a gay? Or a beer?” Allura asked, completely lost in the conversation.

Lance threw his head back and barked a laugh as Keith ignored them all. Their energies entwined again, this time to share their humor and fondness for their team.

When, usually, Keith made his core hotter and made him smell smoke at the back of his nostrils, this time it warmed him carefully and gave him more of a glowing feeling, rather than a burning out.

“Okay, I’m actually glad that just happened, because now I’m vindicated in knowing that Keith was gay before the tiny genius over there,” he said, giddily biting into his food.

Keith enveloped him with a fond emotion and they grinned at each other.

They decided to ask Coran about the bonds between lions and paladins first. They found him on the bridge.

“Coran, Coran, my gorgeous man!” Lance said, alerting the man of their presences.

He turned and brightened at their arrival. Keith’s aura warmed with a yellow brightness and orange tint. Lance’s smile twitched.

_Was Keith always this fond of the team? He doesn’t show it often._

He took a look and noticed Keith’s expression only looked bored or just slightly interested.

“Why, hello there, Lance and Keith! What can I do you both boys for?” Coran asked, enthusiastically.

Keith shrugged. “We were kind of interested in something with the lions. Our…bonds or whatever. Do you know a lot about them?”

Coran hummed, intrigued. “Why, it’s a very interesting thing. Strong quintessence links all the lions to their paladins. Since even the most intelligent Altean alchemists were perplexed by the more complicated workings of quintessence, so by most it was just considered a special magical bond that transcended beyond our understanding as lower grounded beings. Why do you ask?”

Lance frowned. “Well the whole mind meld thing made me wonder how any of this actually works. Like I can talk to…my lion. And Keith can talk to Red. And I assume the rest of the team can talk to their own lions. And when we’re Voltron or in the mind meld, sometimes I can… _feel_ all the rest of the team, too. On a…smaller level. So, I was wondering if maybe two people or-well, paladins could somehow talk like how we do to our lions. Just without Voltron being a bridge.”

Coran’s eyebrows shot up, then he nodded. “Why, actually yes. For some species, that is. A large amount of Alteans could and quite a few Galra can, as well. It works slightly differently, though. I believe the unscientific term would be if those two people are in a sense, soulmates.”

Both Lance and Keith froze, their auras retreating back into their minds as quickly as possible. The colors that enveloped them were any color of dark blue and alarmed.

“Uh, what do you mean…soulmates?” Keith asked, face turning a bright red.

Coran didn’t notice the change in their demeanors and sat on the armrest of the seat closest, which happened to be the black paladin’s.

“Well, that’s the only word that could even remotely describe it. The kind of mind-melding you’re talking about would mostly happen for partners of some kind. Their quintessences linked by being complementary or similar. Depending on the person or the pair. Sometimes they were lovers, spouses, sometimes siblings would have something of a sort, many twins or in some rare cases, a three-person bond could form. Many of those were teams or triplets of some kind. I actually wouldn’t be surprised if maybe the original paladins had bonds between each other. Although, many people outside of lovers and spouses would hide their bonds, for fear of people misunderstanding their relationship,” Coran explained, sounding somewhat wistful.

“I myself had a bond with my wife.”

Lance blinked at him in surprise.

“You had a wife?” Lance asked, dumbstruck. “And you could…what? Read her mind?”

Keith’s aura swirled with a lot of emotions, too many for Lance to distinguish. He tried not to get distracted with trying to understand them and focus on what Coran was telling them.

Coran smiled, fiddling with a stone around his wrist.

“Yes, I had a wife. We’d actually been bonded since we were children. It’s very rare that happens. Most get bonded at the youngest late adolescence. There was a theory that the brain has to fully develop before any could bond fully. But sometimes, those with above average intelligence or high empathetic range could bond earlier. Both me and my wife had bonded by accident when I saved her life as a child. From then on, we were inseparable.”

Keith’s aura stopped retreating and it turned melancholy and midnight blue. He stepped forward and leaned against the back of the black paladin’s chair, crossing his arms.

“I’m really sorry, that must be…really hard,” Keith said, finally reaching out with his mind and pulling at Lance’s.

Lance sighed, letting him entwine their energies again. He walked forward and set a hand on Coran’s shoulder.

“I’m sorry too. I didn’t…I didn’t know,” he said, sympathy coming through.

Coran patted his hand, then ruffled Keith’s hair, fondly.

“She’s been gone for many deca-pheobs now. Even as I was asleep, my mind has had that entire time to get used to the absence,” he said, however still sad and mournful.

Lance leaned back, against the control panel.

“So this…bond. What did it feel like?” Lance asked. “If you don’t mind talking about it.”

Coran hummed, smiling softly to himself. “I’m not sure…how to explain it. The way we communicated was on a molecular level. We had our entire lives to find ways to just…know what we would need from each other. It was instinct by some point. I could feel her from a far distance and could still know exactly what she was eating or thinking. I worked at the castle for many deca-pheobs and that meant we were separated a lot. But, we never felt the distance.”

Keith frowned, more colors shifting through his emotions. Lance was bothered by how…bothered Keith was.

“So, you said you don’t have to be…romantic partners. There could be platonic or familial ones right?” Lance asked, trying to reign in his nervous energy as to not agitate Keith even more.

Coran nodded. “Oh yes. I knew someone that was bonded to their daughter, even.”

Lance perked up, blinking at Coran. “Really? And there wasn’t anything weird?”

Coran shook his head. “Not at all. They just loved each other very much. A bond isn’t any reason to think there is romantic or more to them.”

Keith truly relaxed at that and Lance lost the tension that had built up in his shoulders. Their energies fully converged together again. Keith’s aura turned crimson again, which truly made Lance calm down more. There were still edges of anxiety and dark blue swirling, but Lance reached out with a hopefully soothing embrace through their bond.

“Well, that’s…really cool,” Lance said, detached from the conversation again.

Coran grinned, jumping up, then brought up the screen, typing away some.

“If you boys were still interested, there’s quite a lot of research that you could read about bonding and mind-melds! I wasn’t an alchemist, so I’m not as eloquent on it as the experts would be,” he said, bringing up an entire digital library of reading. “I can translate the simplest of the books so that you won’t have that many issues with the difference in vocabulary.”

Lance shared a look with Keith, letting his mind color with a question. Keith nodded.

“Yeah, actually I’d really like to read some of that. The idea of being able to talk to someone in your head…super cool,” Lance said, smiling a little bit.

Keith chuckled at him, aura coloring with humor and fondness.

Lance’s heart may or may not have skipped a beat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Coran appreciation post lmao


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Soulmates? And concussions?

They ended up deciding to do another go at figuring how far they could go with their bond back in Lance’s room. But both of them were anxiously looking at each other, like they found out they had been secretly arranged to be married without their knowledge.

“So, uh…soulmates?” Lance said, finally.

Keith felt as Lance was just short of _freaking out._ Keith may be on a similar level.

“He said that it doesn’t have to be…romantic. Maybe we’re platonic soulmates,” Keith said, awkwardly.

“Which still feels…a little weird. Considering nearly this whole time, we haven’t even been that good of friends,” Lance said, rubbing at the back of his neck.

Keith frowned and tried to reign in his hurt. “We’re friends.”

Lance must have still felt it, because he leaned forward and laid a hand on his knee. “No, I didn’t mean it like that. Of course, we’re friends. I meant, like…being casual friends and teammates is a long way from being even _platonic_ soulmates.”

“Well, Blue and Red said that we’re…complementary. And our quintessences link or…whatever. We linked in the mind meld, maybe it was some…accident. Maybe we weren’t actually meant to have this happen, but because of the exercise it did. Maybe this is some fluke and…and at some point it will like go away. Fade,” Keith said, logically.

Lance swirled around with contemplation. “I...but-uh, do you _want_ it to be that way?”

“I…I don’t know what I want. It’s all…new and crazy. What about you? Do you want it to be that way?” Keith asked, looking back up at him.

Lance took a long deep breath and sighed. “I don’t know either. Why don’t we just…see where it goes? Do some more digging and figure out how deep this runs?”

Keith relaxed and nodded. Something to do. Keith was good with _doing_ things. Thinking about things so theoretically made him all confused and unsure.

They sat on the floor together, breathing in unison.

Keith let his energy flow through Lance’s, picturing tendrils wrapping around each other in between them.

“Okay. So we can share memories, I guess. How about things right now? Like could I somehow see what you see?” Lance asked, thoughtful.

Keith hummed. “Let’s try something. You look for something in the room and…try to concentrate on it. Don’t tell me what it is out loud, but like think hard on it.”

Lance nodded, then they both closed their eyes.

Keith let Lance think through what he wanted to concentrate on, their energies still poking and prodding at each other. Lance seemed to come to a conclusion, energy shifting somewhat.

Keith reached more, trying to see what Lance sees. Things were fuzzy, denser this far into Lance’s mind. The core of Lance’s head seemed to be still dark and harder to grasp onto. His head started to hurt this far into Lance’s mind.

“Oh, I don’t…” Lance said, subtly pushing at Keith’s reach, trying to keep a distance still.

Keith retreated back to their surface energies entwining.

“Yeah I think that’s maybe too much. We just barely unlocked this,” Keith said, rubbing at his now throbbing head. “It’s too…dense that far in.”

Lance grimaced. “It felt…like you were actually digging into my head. I didn’t like it.”

Keith sighed, sending out an apology through their energies.

Lance’s mouth twitched into a small smile. “Wow, now I really can’t stay mad at you. You’re always immediately saying sorry. Come on, our entire relationship has been us being stubborn against each other and misunderstanding.”

Keith chuckled. “Well I guess we just have to settle into this. Figure out a better…equilibrium. So that this doesn’t distract on missions or when we’re separated.”

Lance frowned. “Oh yeah. How…far does this work, do you think?”

Keith shrugged. “No idea. We could figure it out. Maybe like…go down some hallways and tell each other how much we feel.”

Lance considered it. “Yeah…lets-,”

They both froze as Allura’s voice came over the speakers, urgently.

“Paladins! Report to the bridge, the galra have found us and we need Voltron!”

They looked at each other, energies converging in alarm. They scrambled up and set out for the bridge, running. They burst in, breathing hard and their energies buzzing with an alertness.

“Lance, Keith! Get to your lions, Shiro has already gone. A fleet is converging on the castle and the repairs aren’t done yet,” she said, urgently.

They nodded, but Keith looked at Lance one more time.

He thought ‘ _be careful’_ as hard as he could, hoping it would somehow translate.

Lance’s mouth quirked and he nodded again before they went and headed off to their lions.

Keith felt the distance between them immediately affect the bond, making it fade at the edges. At that point, it felt more like the tendrils stretching over the distance and it made Keith’s nerves kick over the edge.

For some reason, he really wanted to keep hold of Lance’s every emotion.

As they settled in their lions, something sparked up again, like a bridge to each other and he felt more of Lance’s emotions, a mix of fear, determination and exhilaration.

Keith immediately brought up the comms and checked in.

“How are…uh, how’s everyone doing?” he caught himself just before asking for Lance specifically.

Keith was found out through their connection and he could feel Lance’s amusement. He clicked his tongue, piloting his lion out of the hangar, ignoring both lions and Lance’s humor at the near slip up.

The battle was raging outside the castle, the black lion already out.

“Keith, Lance. Help me distract this fleet while Coran works to get the wormhole working again,” Shiro said, completely oblivious to Lance and Keith’s bond dynamics.

“Yes sir,” Keith said, already getting into the battle, blasting through a few ships.

“Roger that. First person who hits twenty fighters down wins!” Lance said, racing around and freezing some ships, then grabbing the ships, throwing them at each other and shattering them.

Keith grinned as his own competitive nature came to the surface, Lance’s emotions riling him up even more.

“You’re on, sharpshooter.”

Their lions seemed to always be around each other, tumbling around each other and blasting through as many as they could.

The green and yellow lions joined a few ticks after red and blue got out, but Lance and Keith seemed to be pretty engrossed in each other.

“And…that’s twenty,” Keith said, victorious.

Keith knew that Lance was frustrated by that through their connection before Lance let out a curse.

“Really? Come on!” Lance said.

“Oh, are we actually doing that? Because I got to thirty like a minute ago,” Shiro said, smirking over the video chat.

Keith blinked, dumbfounded. “Bro…”

Lance laughed, loudly. “Oh my gods, actually I don’t care that I lost, because that was golden.”

Keith rolled his eyes, sending an amused glint through their bond. Lance responded in kind, fond and warm.

“The castle is fixed! Now come back, we’re going to wormhole out!” Allura said over the comms and the lions flew back in.

The blue lion went last, but then a sharp stab of fear through their connection made Keith tense.

“Keith!” Lance yelled out just as Keith saw out of the corner of his eye that an ion cannon had locked on to him.

He was too late to notice as he was hit, knocking out Red’s systems. He seized in his seat as both Red and Lance nearly screamed in his head and he was sent tumbling over and over.

Keith bit through his lip and tasted blood as his head suffered from the whiplash, slamming against the back of his seat. Pain throbbed through his mouth and head, reaching up and rubbing at his forehead.

He groaned, squeezing his eyes shut.

“Keith! Keith, are you okay?” Lance kept asking.

His energy seemed to dance around him, poking and prodding.

He sent a sense of well-being through their connection, but gently asked for a little space so that he could come down from being overwhelmed. Lance’s presence cooled down with relief and he backed away, only staying in Red’s orbit to see the general feelings of both of them.

Red’s presence caged him in and felt protective, urging him to get back to the castle again. He ignored the throbbing in his head and rocketed back to the castle, landing in the docking bay.

Keith stumbled out, holding his head. He was squeezing his eyes shut when he felt Lance’s blue wave of a presence enter his orbit again, obviously trying to reign in his concern. His actual body came into view, running head long at Keith and stopping just out of reach, hands out as Keith kept stumbling forward.

“Keith, oh fuck, I’m so sorry I should have seen it before,” Lance said, fingers twitching, obviously wanting to touch Keith.

He groaned, as his head was throbbing more and he spat out the blood in his mouth.

“Oh-oh my gods, fuck you’re bleeding!” Lance said, hands going wild in the air as his energy pulsed with even more urgency and fear.

Keith breathed through the sensations, falling to his knees from the pain.

Lance dropped in front of him, eyes searching over him.

“What do you need? What do you want?” Lance asked, fidgeting.

Keith finally reached out an arm and let Lance’s energy engulf his again. The blue and cooling presence washed over him and soothed the burning pain a little.

Lance breathed out a sharp gasp and gently grabbed his hand with both of his.

“Okay, I can do that. You don’t seem to want to talk. Do you need to go to the med bay?” Lance asked, quieting his voice.

Keith breathed deeply, just letting himself focus on Lance. He nodded.

“Alright, here, do you want to lean on me?” Lance asked, offering his shoulders to wrap around.

Keith sent a grateful feeling through the bond and then Lance flinched, holding his head.

“Oh, quiznack, is that what you’re feeling? Ow,” he said, grimacing.

He squeezed Lance’s hand in apology. Lance sighed, wrapping Keith’s arm around his shoulders and then held him up with an arm around Keith’s waist.

They stumbled through the hallway, just as the rest of the team came running with a lot of questions. Keith clenched his teeth at the barrage of new voices, making the throbbing in his head worsen.

Lance held up a hand to stop them.

“Stop, his head hurts a lot, I think he hit it sometime. I’m getting him to the med bay. Don’t overstimulate him. Voices bother him,” Lance said, firm, but quiet.

Keith breathed out in relief, sending another grateful feeling. Lance flinched a little, but smiled at him, nonetheless.

Shiro stepped forward, but then halted. He nodded, then ushered everyone back. They all backed away and Keith tightened his hold on Lance’s shoulders.

Lance understood immediately and gently walked them forward into the med bay. Coran hurried over and set him down on a cot, doing a round of med checks.

“Alright, you have a moderate concussion and you bit through your lip. I can’t let you use the healing pod, because there is a chance you might not wake up again. You also can’t go to sleep right now,” he said, typing away on his pad. “I can give you something for the pain, but someone needs to stay here and watch over you for at least a day so that you don’t go into a coma.”

Lance’s swirling emotions spiked in fear at that, trying instinctively to feel over Keith again.

He nodded at Coran, then sent a weak reassurance through his bond.

“I’ll stay. I don’t do much around here, anyway. We can do some research into bonds and whatnot while we wait. We’re both…pretty interested,” Lance said, quickly.

Coran blinked at him, surprised. Keith had to suppress a laugh at Lance’s new swirling of nervous energy at the lie.

“Oh, yes I’ll send you a translated book on your castle device. I’ll make sure you’re both left alone so that Keith isn’t bothered by the others,” Coran said, nodding. “And I’m giving Keith a pain relief.”

Keith sighed with relief at just the idea. Lance’s energy purposefully relaxed and rolled over his mind, like a cooling rag. He hummed and took a deep breath at the sensation, feeling the sharp pain dull more.

Lance’s mouth twitched into a small smile, then he sat on a chair next to Keith’s cot as Coran stuck in an IV in Keith’s arm.

“This is a mild pain relief, which won’t make you want to sleep,” Coran explained as he stuck the needle in Keith’s forearm.

Lance looked away at that, flinching. Keith sent amusement through their connection and Lance huffed.

Coran nodded and set up a bag of yellow liquid above him and patted Keith’s shoulder lightly.

“You should be fine. Just make sure to stay awake until I give the okay for you to sleep,” he said. “And now I’ll be off!”

He swept out of the room just as energetically as he always does and Keith laid back, sighing as the pain relief instantly began to work.

“You feel alright, samurai?” Lance asked, energy tentatively prodding around in question.

Keith finally felt his mind clear somewhat, so he nodded.

“It’s better. Before it felt like needles in my head every time I heard something and saw a lot of movement,” he explained.

Lance grimaced, rubbing at his hairline. “Yeah I felt it happen. Really freaked me out.”

“Sorry, I don’t really know how to…I guess keep things from you,” Keith said, tongue going over his bitten lip.

Lance hummed, nodding. “Maybe we can work on that too. Just as the emotions and memories, maybe at some point actually communicating, is useful, keeping the more negative stuff and pain from each other would be good so we don’t get distracted on a mission.”

Keith breathed deeply. He closed his eyes and tried to imagine walls coming up around him, effectively shutting off the connection.

Lance made a noise of surprise. “Oh, well that did…stop it. But that stopped all of it. How about trying to stop _some_ of it?”

Keith nodded, eyes still closed as he imagined the walls shifting, morphing into a door, letting out only the positive emotions he felt towards Lance. He imagined his pain and negative emotions like a monster hidden in the walls, caged in for Lance’s protection.

Lance sighed. “Now that’s better. Wow, I didn’t even really notice how bad my head was hurting.”

Keith opened his eyes, seeing what he felt through the connection that time. Lance’s emotions were still rolling in the space between them, but it was as though the blue and gold tints were pushed to the front and the darker colors were kept closer to Lance’s chest.

He let his own tendrils entwine with the blue again, offering just a small embrace of their minds in thanks.

Lance turned pink at the edges again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys that's not super proper concussion management, but you know. Better medical shit is better medical shit for Alteans


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some more explanation about bonding and stuff

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so this one is pretty short because it's mostly exposition and stuff, but don't worry. We're about to get into the thick of it

Lance had changed out of his armor, same with Keith.

He set his feet up on Keith’s cot, scrolling through and reading a book on Altean mind melds.

“So this one has a case of an entire group of three siblings getting bonded and the brothers actually _felt_ it when their sister died,” Lance said. “That’s so…”

“Sad?” Keith supplied, looking at him. “I felt your emotions change.”

Lance huffed. “Oh yeah. Well, the brothers never had the same bond after that. They said that they only kind of felt each other’s emotions after, when before that they could know what the others were thinking as soon as it happened.”

Keith frowned. “Does it talk about…like inter-species bonds? Because well, I’m…”

Lance blinked at him and felt Keith’s trepidation and apprehension. He hummed, reaching out and trying to soothe him with his own energy.

“Maybe that’s why we’re the only ones bonded,” Lance said, searching through for inter-species bonds. “Coran said galra had some bonds between them and he said that it’s easier for people who are really empathetic…”

Keith nodded, tongue going over his still bruised lip. “So me, the part galra and you, the empathetic one. Makes sense.”

Lance tried to resist a smile, also reigning in his joy from hearing about how Keith thought he was empathetic. He made a noise like ‘aha’ as he found the chapter on inter-species bonding.

He read some, trying to keep his reactions in his emotions to a minimum, as not to alert Keith.

“Well, this is interesting…it’s said that there were some Galra-Altean bonds, which usually end up with a really powerful couple. Like in an almost revered way. But, sometimes it could get somewhat…uh, catastrophic. Like unstable,” Lance read out.

Keith’s emotions were too complicated then, flitting through on a reel and the colors shifting.

“So, is it all just saying that this is like…permanent?” Keith asked, walls up completely.

Lance nearly shivered at the loss of Keith’s warm tendrils and he stammered a little.

“Oh uh, I-uh, from what I’ve read, yeah. I think so. Some will like…mute? Over time. Especially after like a traumatic event. It’s really bad to see what happens when one of them dies. It’s like that person left is…a shell of themselves,” Lance said, reading more. “Do you…not like it? Being connected like this?”

Keith’s eyes shot up and the walls immediately went down, showing Lance that he was actually thrilled and relieved to have Lance bonded with him. Lance breathed out at the new emotions and he let his own tendrils wrap around and through Keith’s, like two birds flying around each other.

“Okay….alright. I actually….like this too? Strangely?” Lance said, trying to reign in his more intense emotions. “I don’t know why, it’s just kind of comforting and nice?”

Keith grinned and nodded. “Yeah your…energy? Aura? It’s really energetic and bouncy, but at its core, it’s really soothing.”

Lance grinned, unable to keep in his burst of joy at that. “Really? Oh, well that’s…really nice of you, samurai. You’re really like _hot.”_

Keith’s eyebrows shot up and Lance realized just then what it must have sounded.

“No, uh, not like _that._ Well, I mean, not that you’re _not_ but that’s not….” Lance babbled, then he cringed, groaning.

Keith’s swirling emotions flitted through some and then settled on amused. Lance sighed, then waved a hand.

“Like your energy. It’s really…. _warm._ Like when you reach out it feels like I’m sitting in a sunbeam,” Lance explained, face flushing. “It’s really nice at times.”

Keith hummed, smiling even wider and energy turning bright crimson and warmer yellows and pinks tinted the aura. Lance relaxed into a strangely _happy_ Keith, knowing his energy must reflect something similar.

“Well, thanks,” Keith said, chuckling awkwardly.

Lance nodded, turning back to the book, clearing his throat and reading more.

“Wait…so I think this started in the mind meld. And it kind of feels like it, right?” Lance said, getting an idea.

Keith shrugged. “Yeah, pretty much. Somewhat more intense.”

Lance put down the book and looked at Keith. “So what if we put the helmets on again? See if it maybe…deepens the connection?”

Keith hummed, considering. “Yeah…okay maybe.”

Lance nodded. “Okay, we’ll do that at some point later on so that you can fully recover from your boo boo.”

Keith rolled his eyes, but flinched at how that made his heart hurt. Lance felt the edges of it, grimacing.

“Ah, dude, you’re seriously downplaying it, aren’t you?” Lance asked, rubbing at his forehead.

Keith sighed, closing his eyes again. “Just read more. See what are like ways to control it or strengthen it when it’s new.”

Lance chuckled, knocking their feet against each other on the cot. “Okay, then fine. Let me see.”

A few vargas went by with just a relaxing time, Lance reading and sometimes checking in to make sure Keith was still awake.

“So, there are a few ways to strengthen it, apparently. There’s even like…a ceremony? That’s supposed to symbolize bonds deepening and helps people get used to the sensations and emotions,” Lance said, after reading a lot more than he ever thought he would.

“What kind of ceremony?” Keith asked.

Lance hummed. “Well, on Altea, there was like a pool in some sacred gardens. I think it acts similarly to a sensory deprivation tank? It was in a cave and the bonded people would head in and just hang out for a day, meditating and stuff.”

Keith nodded. “Oh…yeah okay. Well, I don’t think that exists anymore.”

“We could try something similar. Maybe just like go somewhere dark and…hang out?” Lance said, energy starting to turn more nervous at the thought.

Keith sputtered out a laugh, letting his energy pulse around. “This is…so weird. It’s not just me, right? Like this is pretty…weird, right?”

Lance laughed, letting his own aura pulse around with Keith’s. “Yeah, it’s…pretty weird. I guess we just have to get used to it.”

“Are you…comfortable thinking about this being permanent? Even if we’re just platonic, it’s really…intimate in a way,” Keith said, nervously.

Lance took a deep breath, trying to feel out the atmosphere. “I….I think right now, since we’re still feeling it out, I’m…not too freaked out. I know that we haven’t…entirely been the best of friends, but if this day of feeling out the bond has anything to show us is that we actually work well together.”

Keith’s aura burst into magenta and pink, just like his face. Lance blinked at the new barrage of emotion.

“Oh, uh, okay. I think we do, too,” Keith said, coughing a little.

Lance’s energy was then engulfed in Keith’s and was about to get lost in it when the door opened, making both of them jump.

“Keith, how are you feeling?” Coran asked, unperturbed by their reaction.

Lance sighed, waving a hand. “Haven’t let him sleep. Just reading him the most riveting book ever. About some quintessence bonds and stuff and words.”

Coran beamed with excitement. “So you’ve been reading it? What do you think?”

Keith’s energy turned fond and warm again and Lance let it make him glow from the inside out. He chuckled at Coran.

“We both think it’s really cool what it…sounds like. We don’t have anything like that on Earth. There’s something that sort of makes us both nervous to think about, because it seems like a bond is completely permanent,” Lance said. “Like, you said you got bonded when you were a kid with your wife, didn’t that…I don’t know, freak you out a little? Like does it feel like something that was _meant_ to happen or like….something that just _happened?”_

Coran hummed, thoughtful as he looked over Keith’s eyes and IV.

“That’s a very interesting question,” he said, considering how to answer. “I suppose the easiest way to answer would be when you’re bonded, it’s as though the idea of being bonded permanently isn’t a source of anxiety, more like that person is always going to stay with you and that comforts you. Alteans are a very loving and empathetic people, so the idea of being alone in any sense is much more frightening.”

Lance locked eyes with Keith, trying to feel out what his emotions thought about it. Keith just lost his tension, smile growing as his energy then almost _purred._ That nearly sent Lance into a tizzy, making his heartrate spike and his mouth twitched into a small smile.

Coran blinked between the two of them, curiously.

“Is there….a reason that you’re both so interested in this?” Coran asked, an eyebrow up.

Lance froze, then tried very hard to act as casual as possible, sitting back and shrugging.

“Oh, we were just talking about it earlier, you know with the lions and the mind meld and stuff. And we just happened to bring up the idea of being…connected without the lions. And we don’t have anything like it on Earth and so we were just…interested,” Lance said, avoiding Coran’s eyes.

Coran narrowed his eyes at them both, then nodded slowly.

“Well, just understand that if there’s anything you’d like to tell me at any point, I’m here to listen,” he said, cryptic.

Lance smiled at him, nodding, even as he started feeling more guilty and reluctant to keep it secret.

“Yeah, man we’ll…keep that in mind,” he said.

Shiro came and told him that he was going to watch over Keith during the night and Lance hesitantly let him, not before sending a questioning tendril through their bond. Keith send a reassurance and then pushed him a little.

He could almost read Keith’s face at that moment, telling him to go sleep.

Lance settled into his nightly routine, still distinctly aware of Keith’s presence in the back of his mind. It was more muted as they were away from each other for the first time that day, but he still could feel their energies connected on a surface level.

When Lance fell back on the bed, he breathed out in relief, actually surprised how exhausted he was. Keith seemed to feel it, reaching out more and embracing his energy, warming it and letting Lance relax.

The energy lulled him immediately to sleep.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Enter Coran and Shiro...

“So, is there something you’d like to tell me about? Maybe that has to do with you and Lance?” Shiro asked, after some time of letting Keith rest.

Keith knew he should have expected this, but he was hoping to have more time to get used to do the idea of it all.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Keith said, not even opening his eyes from where he was laying back.

Shiro hummed, sounding like he wasn’t buying it for a second.

“Okay, sure. You apparently came out to him and have been only hanging out with him all day, coming into breakfast together….yeah, just the usual, hm?” he asked, dead pan.

Keith sighed, sitting up and ignoring the pang in his head. “It’s all just coincidence. We’ve gotten to….get to know each other better and now we’re more friends. Simple as that.”

Shiro had a suspicious eyebrow up at him and Keith knew that Shiro was totally not believing him for a second.

“Really? Both of you have been going at it since coming into space and suddenly, you’re just so close that you even told him you’re gay? Even though you didn’t even tell anyone else?” Shiro asked.

Keith avoided his eyes, then shrugged. “Come on, it’s not like I was _hiding_ it. And you know how…perceptive Lance can be. He just talked to me about it and it came out.”

Shiro hummed, sitting back and crossing his arms.

“Something’s up. And it’s made you all…” he waved a hand. “ _Soft.”_

Keith scoffed. “What are you even talking about?”

“You know what I mean. I know you know what I mean. It has something to do with Lance,” he said.

Keith rolled his eyes, then clicked his tongue as it made his head hurt again.

“Okay, if I tell you _maybe_ something…weird is going on that I…don’t really know how to explain exactly, would you-,”

Keith was cut off when his chest seized with unimaginable _terror._

He gasped, holding his head as the surge of emotions that wasn’t his invaded his mind.

Lance was definitely in some kind of trouble.

Keith scrambled to get up from the cot and Shiro stood up in shock.

“Keith, what’s going on? What are you doing?” he asked.

“Just, I need to get to…my room. I forgot to…get something. Hold on,” he said, not even bothering to look back as he hurried off into the hallway.

“Keith!” Shiro yelled out from behind him, but he paid it no mind.

Keith ignored the throbbing headache and ran down, searching through his bond to see where Lance was. The dark blue and shifting tendrils led him to Lance’s room.

He knocked against the door, loudly.

“Lance? Lance, are you okay?” he called out, grimacing at another pounding headache.

He panted and stood back, waiting for any signs of Lance’s well-being.

The door whooshed open and Lance stood, confused and with tears streaming down his face.

“K-keith? What-?” he said, voice trembling and then he sniffled, wiping at his face. “Oh-oh fuck did you-did you feel that?”

Keith put his hands on Lance’s shoulders and urgently looked over Lance’s face.

“What happened? Are you okay?”

Lance breathed out and nodded. “It was-it was just a nightmare. I-I’m sorry for-I didn’t mean to make you feel it.”

Keith sighed in relief. He backed up and then sent a comforting tendril through their bond.

“It’s okay. I didn’t know what it was, but I felt….how scared you were. Was worried you were in trouble,” Keith said, running a hand through his hair.

Lance sniffled again and wiped his still wet face. “No, nothing like that. Just a nightmare. Have plenty of those.”

Keith didn’t know what to do then. He felt through their bond, noting how distressed Lance still was. His energy was pulsing with nerves and colored a dull black and grey.

“Are you okay? Can-is there something I can do?” Keith asked, hands fidgeting in front of him.

Lance blinked at his hands and then owlishly at his face. “Are you…asking if you can hug me?”

Keith froze, then realized that was exactly what he was asking. He didn’t even know that was what he was thinking until Lance must have sensed it.

“Yeah, uh…I guess so? I just thought…maybe it would…help make you feel better?” Keith stammered, awkwardly. “You don’t have to-,”

Lance sputtered out a laugh, then opened his arms. Keith sighed, then stepped into them, hoping his energy would help calm the most of Lance’s nerves.

“Sorry for freaking you out,” Lance mumbled, energy turning to apologetic.

Keith shook his head against Lance’s shoulder.

“Don’t worry about that. Do you-do you want to talk about it?” Keith asked, trying not to overwhelm Lance in searching his emotions for what he needed.

Lance paused, then sighed. “I-I don’t know. And you should be resting. Shiro’s probably freaking out.”

Keith grimaced, knowing that Lance was certainly right.

“Okay. You don’t have to tell me what happened,” Keith said, stepping back and looking over Lance’s face.

His energy had calmed a considerable amount and his face was no longer scrunched in distress and his eyes turned brighter.

Lance gave him a tired smile, then looked behind him.

“Oh, uh, Shiro…hi?” Lance said, energy pulsing with new nerves.

Keith tensed and turned around, seeing Shiro with a completely indescribable look on his face. His eyes were searching all over the scene and his eyebrows were so far up his face that it made his forehead shrink.

“Hey there, _Lance…_ just uh, looking for Keith here. _Not_ in his room or resting in the med bay. After running off with barely an explanation. Is everyone alright?” Shiro asked, voice dripping with suspicions.

Both he and Lance glanced at each other, then Keith sent a questioning tendril.

_Should we tell him?_

Lance worked his jaw, then shrugged.

Keith sighed, rubbing at his throbbing forehead.

“Okay, we need to tell you about something.”

They sat together back in the med bay, this time having pulled Coran from his room, too. Lance insisted on that last part.

“If we tell Shiro, I think we should tell Coran,” Lance had whispered to him.

Keith nodded without argument, thinking this bond was already getting too noticeable that they wouldn’t be able to keep quiet about it for long.

Lance sat on the edge of Keith’s cot and watched as Shiro and Coran blinked at them, dumbstruck.

“You can _read_ each other’s _minds?”_ Shiro asked, almost shrill.

Coran actually had to sit down on a chair, looking far too emotional.

“My word, boys…this is incredible,” he breathed out.

Keith had to resist the urge to jump up and yell _‘just kidding, ha gotcha!’_ because even if they were finally telling the truth, this felt a lot more awkward than just letting Shiro think they were secretly dating or something.

Lance’s energy was shrunk in on himself, not letting Keith read him at all. It made him even more nervous.

“Uh, not like _read_ more like…sensing things about each other? This has only been a few days. We don’t have a…very good handle on it, yet,” Keith said, constantly glancing to see what Lance was thinking.

Lance sat with a completely guarded expression. His eyes were trained on the blanket on Keith’s cot.

“And you rushed out because you…what, _sensed_ something about Lance?” Shiro asked, eyes looking between them.

Keith worked his jaw. “I felt…his emotions change.”

Lance bit his lip. “I had a nightmare. When we’re asleep, it seems more…well, more. I actually…uh, reached out first after having a dream about Keith which I figured out to be…more like a memory.”

Coran looked up and his eyes were actually shining with tears.

“I…never thought I’d see bonds ever again. Altea…being gone and the Galra so different now. This is…remarkable,” he said, smiling as though he’d seen a loved one after a really long time.

Keith felt somewhat more uncomfortable with their reactions with every passing tick. Shiro seemed as though he’d just told him that Lance proposed marriage to him after knowing him a day and Coran seemed like he wanted to officiate the marriage himself.

“So, you do think it’s that? A bond like you know from….all those writings?” Lance asked, voice small and nervous.

Coran nodded. “I believe so. From what you’ve explained so far, it sounds like a classic newly formed bond. Memories are easily exchanged at first, because they are stored in the same part of the mind that connects you to your bonded partner. Emotions are all a part of your outward energy and quintessence, so most will feel those of their bond partner most of the time.”

Lance and Keith exchanged a look. They both seemed to almost hope this was just a latent effect of an intense mind-meld exercise and would eventually go away.

Shiro sat with his hands steepled under his chin. “So what does this mean for you both as paladins? For Voltron.”

Lance showed the first bit of emotion then, by frowning.

“We’ve been trying to get a hold on this for that exact reason. We don’t want this to distract from missions and to mess with Voltron. It was one of the first things that Keith brought up, rather than even being freaked about having _me_ in his head,” Lance said, firmly.

Keith looked at Lance in surprise, then nearly reeled back at how Lance let down his walls and let Keith feel his emotions again.

There was a new forefront emotion, colored an interesting burgundy. Keith hadn’t ever seen anything remotely red in Lance’s colors before, but this was a strong, definable dark, deep red.

Keith took a tick to just reach out with a questioning tendril, then he realized.

Lance was being _protective_ of Keith.

He had to keep his own surging emotions in check and distract himself of how strangely excited that made Keith.

Shiro looked between them again, with narrowed eyes.

“Are you talking in your heads right now?” Shiro asked, almost disbelieving.

Keith’s eyebrow twitched and he glared at his brother. “No. We’re just…trying to see how we’re doing in this _very uncomfortable_ conversation right now.”

Shiro sighed, running his prosthetic over his face. “Keith, I’m just trying to understand. This sounds very…invasive and personal. You’ve never been like this before.”

Lance clicked his tongue. “Maybe because no one ever asked him how he was actually feeling. Including myself, which was wrong.”

Keith was completely floored by how Lance was acting. He didn’t even know how to respond to any of it.

Coran watched with rapt attention. “Honestly? I can’t believe I didn’t see this coming. You’re very complimentary of each other.”

They both whipped their heads around and Shiro scowled.

Keith ran a hand through his hair. “Red said something like that, too.”

Lance’s mouth twitched into a small smile. His energy shifted a little, becoming more pink and blue again.

“Shiro, I don’t really know what to tell you. It’s just what’s been going on. And…I don’t think it’s a problem. We’ll work on controlling it and strengthening it so that it’s more of a communication rather than…” Keith said, unable to think of the right word.

“An urge? A…mingling of energies?” Lance said, tilting his head in thought.

Shiro’s face morphed into almost disgusted. “What in the-this sounds ridiculous and a complete inconvenience. Is there a way to stop this?”

He turned the question to Coran, who blinked at Shiro, then for the first time that either Lance or Keith had ever seen, looked almost _angry._

“No. There’s no case of a bond being broken, unless one of them dies. And there has never been a case where they _want_ the bond broken. I understand you’re hesitance, seeing as how no humans have anything like this, but for Alteans and some more species, this is a very important development that can help Lance and Keith grow as people and improve their own lives.”

Keith’s eyebrows shot up and he exchanged a very surprised emotion through the bond, which Lance returned immediately.

Shiro’s mouth opened and closed a few times, before he sighed, pinching the bridge of his scarred nose.

“Okay, okay fine. If…if this doesn’t bother either of you, then work on what does. But, I want to make this clear, no one on the team should hear of this, yet. This will only become a distraction and take away from Voltron,” Shiro said, firmly.

Lance frowned, this time his aura shifting into a surge of bright crimson. He opened his mouth to argue, but Keith laid a hand on his shoulder to hold him back.

“Fine. For now. But, I want Lance to stay with me now while I’m recovering. We need to talk this over more and research it more. So, could you give us some privacy?” Keith asked, stubborn.

Shiro sat back, then pursed his lips and stood. “Okay.”

He walked out and both him and Lance breathed out in relief. Coran looked hesitant to leave, wanting nothing more than to stay and talk more.

Lance melted into a smile at him. “How about you stay and we can talk about bonds?”

Coran grinned, eyes sparkling.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, just wanted to do a small disclaimer: I actually really like Shiro and everything, but he very much will do some problematic things in this fic. He's not a villain or anything, but just a usual overprotective traumatized older brother


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We stan one gorgeous mustached man in this household

“At some point, you should be able to just speak in your minds! It’s quite extraordinary to experience for the first time,” Coran said, giddy.

Lance smiled at how enthusiastic he was, which Keith’s energy seemed to warm at. He had no idea why he ever thought Keith was some cold, detached genius pilot. In just a day and a half, he felt all of Keith’s warm and fond feelings for everyone he cared about.

“We can like…sort of get images from each other right now. And we’ve read a few ways to strengthen it, but it seems like a lot more cultural stuff than what we know,” Lance explained.

Coran hummed, stroking his mustache. “Yes, I see. The Farsnow ceremony would be hard without the caves and pool.”

Lance nodded. “What was that like, though? You went through it with you wife, right?”

Coran melted into a nostalgic smile. “Yes, I did. We did it when we graduated from the academy together, as a stand-in for a marriage ceremony. That was quite common among those that were married and bonded, that the Farsnow acted as a marriage ceremony. The caves have no natural light filtering in and the pool had a very high salt saturation so the idea was that it blocked all outside stimulation, allowing the bonded pair to deepen their connection. It would last however long the pair wanted, sometimes a full quintant, sometimes they would only be in there for a few vargas.”

“We’ve been making do by…uh, just sitting in the lions’ hangar and ‘meditating’ and letting our lions mother us,” Lance said, chuckling. “Both Blue and Red are really excited for some reason.”

“Can you feel the other’s lion?” Coran asked, chomping at the bit for any more information.

“Yeah, we figured that out like the second night. They have really different…uh, feelings? Presences?” Keith said, waving a hand for a better description.

“Intriguing,” Coran said, twirling his mustache. “The paladins of old never said they had bonds, but imagine if the team could somehow bond as a full team? That could change Voltron’s entire inner quintessence.”

Lance’s lip curled. “Okay, having _one_ whole new mind in my head all the time is enough for me. The idea of like Pidge or Shiro rooting around too is….”

He shivered at the thought. Keith’s energy pulsed in amusement.

“You felt their minds before, in the mind-meld exercise, yes? What’s so different?” Coran asked.

“They all feel _completely_ different,” Keith said, shaking his head.

“Yeah, like Pidge…is like feeling test burnout and having ten cups of coffee a day,” Lance said, grimacing. “She’s way too high-strung.”

Keith snorted. “That’s exactly what she’s like. Although, I wouldn’t mind Hunk in my head sometimes.”

Lance sighed and felt himself warm at the thought. “Oh, he’s like…”

“A freshly baked batch of cookies,” Keith finished, chuckling.

Keith stopped, as though he just realized what he just said.

“Holy shit, Shiro’s right. I’m soft, now. How did that happen?” he said, eyes bulging.

Lance barked out a laugh, nudging Keith’s leg.

“Oh, calm down, samurai. You’re just as scary as yesterday. You still took down like thirty fighters in that battle,” Lance said. “Would you call Hunk soft, even though he could totally blast through a thousand sentinels at once?”

Keith considered it, energy thoughtful. “Yeah, totally soft.”

Lance clicked his tongue. “Okay, fine. Hunk was a hard pass. Am _I_ soft though?”

Keith blinked at him, then his jaw dropped.

“Oh my gods, it was you! In my head! That’s what made me soft!” he said, pointing an accusatory finger.

Lance gasped, offended. “Uh, well that’s rich, I nearly bit off Shiro’s head just then because I’ve somehow inherited your short fuse. You getting somewhat less of a cold exterior is nothing compared to that. Even if I did magically do something to you, you should be thanking me!”

Keith only paused for a second, before their energies really did confirm they were teasing each other and sputtered a laugh. Lance huffed a chuckle, before pushing Keith’s knee a little.

“Very interesting…” Coran said, laughing a little.

Both him and Keith nearly jumped because they almost forgot Coran was still there. Lance let out a huff of nervous laughter.

“Uh, yeah. But, uh, anyway…yeah, the team’s way different,” he said, moving on from that.

“How would you describe each other?” Coran asked, intrigued.

He and Keith shared a look. Lance couldn’t help smile as their energies relaxed with similar feelings of warmth. He focused solely on the feeling of Keith around him. There was more stability than he had felt before, as though Keith’s energy had changed with Lance’s addition.

“Keith…feels like a sunset over the desert. At first I felt like…his more intense passion and-and more strong….red? Like we see our auras kind of, more in colors. And Keith’s a bright _red._ There’s some…golden and orange, some deep purples and blues. It’s really warm and bright and intense and passionate. It feels….”

Lance racked his memory for something that felt even remotely similar.

“Oh, it feels like flying! Like that swoop in your stomach from the G’s after you do a crazy barrel roll. That’s what it’s like.”

Keith blinked at him, surprised by the description. Lance suddenly felt really embarrassed at how much he ended up saying.

“Or…something like that…”

Keith’s face then erupted in bright pink, along with his aura.

“Uh, well…uh….” Keith stuttered.

Coran turned to him, expectantly. Keith chewed on his bottom lip.

“Lance….Lance feels like…” he huffed a chuckle, relaxing. “He’s really _blue._ Like a sharp, sky blue. He has some yellow and bright sunspots. He feels like running on hot sand and smelling seawater. He’s really cool and calming sometimes, then other times it’s like getting hit with a wave from the ocean from behind. And then…other times like being quiet and contemplative when you stare up at the night sky. The smell of summer rain on pavement that had been baking in the sun before.”

Lance’s entire heart surged in shock at that, unable to understand how to react. His face heated up in embarrassment and when they locked eyes, Lance’s hands came up to cover his cheeks.

Coran grinned, elated. “It seems as though maybe you humans are much more poetic about it. Alteans and Galra had a more clinical view I guess, after so many thousands of years of having bonds.”

Lance cleared his throat, resisting the urge to fan himself in embarrassment. Their auras seemed to slow down about reaching for each other, but they both could tell they felt more…tender.

“It’s been…an interesting few days,” Keith said, chuckling.

“It probably doesn’t help that both of us are way sleep-deprived,” Lance said, trying to laugh it off.

Coran hummed, nodding. “Oh, yes. I completely forgot about that. Here, let me see if maybe Keith would be safe to sleep yet.”

He stood and typed on the tablet, clicking his tongue.

“Ah, yes, I believe you are safe now. It’s early morning in the day cycle, now. Your scans show that the concussion has subsided. You both go and sleep for a least a few vargas. I can vouch for you so that you don’t have to worry about missing anything,” Coran said, patting Keith’s shoulder gently.

Lance hummed, truly reluctant. He stood and waited to walk with Keith out. Down the hallway, out of earshot of Coran, Lance finally voiced his concerns.

“I’ve been pretty…scared to sleep actually. I don’t want to accidentally give you another nightmare…”

Keith looked at him, energy giving nothing but reassurance. “I gave you a few, too. I’m…not really wanting to bother you either. But, we also haven’t slept at the same time with the knowledge that this is going on. Maybe things will be different.”

They stopped in the hallway with their rooms, hesitating.

“Uh, well…what if….we sleep in the same room? That way, if….if one of us has another nightmare we could….just wake the other up?” Lance offered, voice nearly shaking with nerves.

Keith’s energy and face pulsed with surprise.

“But, uh, that’s just an idea. You don’t have to, actually, yeah that’s-you’re, no you probably think that’s weird, right?” he was babbling. “Well uh, never mind….I’ll just….”

He turned and tried to walk quickly to his door, face burning with humiliation.

Keith stopped him by grabbing his arm.

“Lance…we can-we can try it.”

He whipped around to see a really pink Keith, looking away.

“Just so….so that we don’t have to run back and forth and see if the other is okay, you know? We’ll be right there. For-for convenience…” he said, shrugging.

Lance nodded, breathing out in relief. “Yeah. Yeah…for convenience.”

“So uh, which…which room?” Keith asked, looking between the doors.

Lance shrugged. “Doesn’t matter to me.”

“How about your room?” Keith offered, going towards it. “You’d probably complain I don’t have any weird moisturizers or something.”

Lance chuckled as their energies settled between them, warm and comfortable.

“You should get into the habit of at least a toner or something. I’m suffocating just looking at your pores.”

He led them into his room, looking around to see if it was messy or if he left something embarrassing around on the floor or something. His gaze then stopped on the obvious situation of:

The one tiny, twin bed.

They both stared at it, then slowly looked at each other. Their energies jittered around each other in a nervous dance.

“So, uh…I’ll just sleep on the floor, yeah?” Keith said, shucking off his jacket, quickly.

Lance hummed, looking at the bed, then the very hard floor.

“Wait, no, I have an idea!”

He opened up the compartment under the mattress, with all the extra pillows and blankets. He then pulled them out, the fluffiest of them all first to dump onto the floor. He then pulled the blankets and pillows off his bed, adding them to the mix.

Keith’s energy churned with curiosity at first, then Lance felt it as Keith realized the intent. He was almost expecting irritation, instead he felt nothing but amusement and strange affection. It smelt like popcorn and watching movies with his siblings.

Lance grinned, turning around and presented the nest with extended arms.

“Tada! Sleepover!”

Keith’s mouth twitched into a small smile, nodding. “Comfy.”

“That’s the idea!” Lance said, pointing and winking at him. “I used to do this all the time with my siblings. We would build a nest in the living room and would take naps and watch movies all night long.”

Keith hummed, taking off his boots and carefully lowering himself down into it. Lance followed suit, settling to have his own pillow and Keith did too.

It wasn’t like sharing one bed, but it was close.

Lance hummed, feeling the dregs of exhaustion pull at him. They settled down with maybe a foot of space between them.

“Still be careful alright?” Lance said, nudging Keith’s shoulder. “Don’t want you going into a coma now.”

Keith huffed. “Yeah, yeah. I’ll try not to. Except I don’t really know if I can control that. Coma wants to take me, then it will.”

Lance gasped, smacking Keith’s shoulder. “Don’t even joke about that, oh my gods.”

“You worried about me, sharpshooter?” Keith asked, smirking.

Lance felt his ears heat up and he rolled his eyes. “As if. I’m worried Red would take my head off for letting you go comatose.”

Keith chuckled. “Fair. She would do that.”

“So, don’t go into a coma. Simple.”

He smiled at that. “Yeah, got it. Won’t do that.”

Lance nodded. Keith then looked over, aura pulsing with hesitation, colored tan and brown like sandstone.

“Can I ask you something?” he asked, brows furrowed.

Lance slowly nodded, curious. Keith bit the inside of his lip, nervously.

“About-about earlier. Your nightmare. Since I was awake, I didn’t get to see it. But, you saw…my dreams. Did they-did you see a lot?” he asked, quietly.

Lance’s mood plummeted and he was sure Keith could feel that because he looked up in alarm. Lance grimaced, looking down at his hand in the empty space between them.

“Uh, I saw s _ome_ things. I didn’t really get that it was your nightmares until the-the second night. The first….it was like I was you. I looked into the mirror and-uh-and felt my skin sprout…f-fur…you turned into a Galra,” he said, looking back up to see Keith staring at the ceiling, eyes pained and energy turning a midnight blue.

“The second…I think was an actual memory. I was sitting next to you, in the desert. You….you were crying,” he said, much quieter.

Keith took a long deep breath, closing his eyes.

Lance decided to risk it and he reached out, physically, to put a gentle hand on Keith’s shoulder. He tensed, then slowly relaxed again, turning back to him with a sad smile.

“I guess I can’t really lie and tell you that I’m…fine, right?” he said, punctuated by how sad and melancholy his energy was.

Lance frowned. “I-I guess so. But, I just-I just want you to know that….while I know those things really scare you and make you upset…that we all, the team and everyone, we all think of you as family. You’re not-you’re not alone anymore.”

Keith’s energy swirled into a new, purple and red, making it look like a pulsing aurora galaxy.

“I-I do know that. Now I do. And-,” he huffed a chuckle. “I know you’re not lying because I would feel it.”

“I wouldn’t lie to you about that. Family is way too important to me for that,” Lance said, shaking his head.

Keith nodded, relaxing. “I know. I felt it.”

Lance touched his shoulder just slightly firmer. His heart hammered talking about what he wanted to say.

“My nightmare. Earlier. It was….it was about you. I was-I was scared that someday that you’re going to get hurt and I won’t…I won’t be there. To save you. And I’m…with this new bond? And if it is really permanent? If-if that ever happens, then I…even though it’s all new…I couldn’t even imagine how it’d feel. Like…to be without you somehow connected to me? I…I can’t help but think that’d feel like my…my soul ripping in half…”

His voice was quiet and nearly cracking with nerves. Keith blinked at him, eyes wide and the most vulnerable he’d ever seen. His aura reached out and tried to comfort Lance.

“I-I think that’s the same for me. Wondering what would happen if you were away from me now…Does that-does that scare you?” Keith asked, concerned. “How…how intense this bond has…kind of made our friendship?”

Lance turned back to the ceiling, considering his answer. “It’s…definitely overwhelming to think about sometimes. Like…just days ago, we were barely just acquaintances. But now? Like all of a sudden it’s so different. I-I… _feel_ you now. I know…what you’ve been through. What you’re scared of. How…how you’re actually really soft and warm. How much you care about the others and how you think. It’s like…as if immediately I saw straight into your chest and you can see into mine.”

“I want…” Keith said, suddenly. Lance turned to look at him, curiously.

Keith smiled at him, genuine and open.

“I want to know more about you. Not just…with the bond or anything. Like, as a person. The little things. I think…I think that will help. Make it more…stable and real.”

Lance nodded, mouth twitching into a smile, too. “Let’s sleep. For a few vargas. Then tomorrow, we just hang out.”

Keith hummed, relaxing into the nest more, seemingly as exhausted as Lance.

Lance closed his eyes, letting himself sink into their entwined essences between them, letting the sunset warmth and red vibrance calm him down.

Keith breathed deep next to him and Lance actually felt it when he fell into sleep. The aura around him had always seem to pulse in front of him, when he slept, it was like it lost it’s conscious tendrils and formed a cloud over his body.

Lance ended up watching it happen, intrigued. He stared as Keith glowed from the inside out.

“Wow,” he whispered, entranced.

Keith’s expression was soft, gentle and breath silent as he slept. His hair fanned over his forehead and he had ended up curled onto his side, like a cat.

Lance’s hand twitched, wanting to reach over and sweep his hair away from his face.

He ended up turning over onto his side, still feeling like he was sleeping right next to hot space heater.

He liked the feeling a lot.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance and Keith trade some embarrassing memories and find out how this interacts with training

Keith opened his eyes, warm and cocooned in fluffy blankets. He realized he didn’t remember any dreams or nightmares, a fully peaceful nap. It was probably the first time that had happened in years for him.

He looked over and his eyes adjusted to the simulated darkness. He made out Lance’s outline, facing away from him and breathing deeply. He slowly sat up, checking his Altean watch, humming at the time.

Keith had slept for maybe two and a half vargas. He wondered if he should just go back to sleep, when his stomach rumbled.

Lance made a noise, like he was jolted awake. The room must have realized they were both awake again and it brightened some, so that they were sitting in dim lighting.

“Sorry to wake you. Pretty hungry,” Keith said, face heating up in embarrassment.

Lance turned and blinked at him, then looked down as his stomach rumbled again. Their auras seemed to finally wake again, too as they entwined as always. Lance let out a snort.

“I hear that,” he said, sitting up and humming as he stretched. “How long were we out?”

“A few vargas. It’s late morning now,” Keith said, yawning and rubbing at his face.

Lance’s aura pulsed with fondness. He almost distinctly heard a soft _“cute”_ float over his head, making him freeze. He turned in alarm.

“Did you say something?” he asked, making Lance whip around.

“Huh? No?”

Keith’s eyebrows furrowed. “Huh…I must have imagined that.”

“Did you hear something?” Lance asked, standing up and offering Keith a hand. He took it and stood, rubbing at his head.

“I-I don’t know,” he said, feeling like that…strange word leaked out of his head. He couldn’t remember it anymore. “You know…I really hope this isn’t just me going insane. Like hallucinating all of this. How would I know?”

Lance sputtered. “What? You make all of this up? Come on, samurai. You don’t have half the imagination.”

Keith clicked his tongue, nudging Lance a little. “I’m starving, let’s go.”

They walked together, letting their still groggy energies entwine lazily between them, not bothering to do anything more than surface reading of each other. Keith recognized that they didn’t need to be joined at the deepest level 24/7. Sometimes it was nice to just let it be.

The kitchen was deserted, thankfully. Keith really didn’t want to deal with the rest of the team analyzing them. He was already doing enough of that himself.

Somehow, in the middle of this, his thoughts turned way more sentimental and poetic, while constantly connected to Lance’s bright and shiny energy.

They sat at the counter and ate bowls of food goo, quietly.

“So, you just want to hang out today? We don’t have a mission until Coran is all done fixing the castle tomorrow. And you’re still recovering, so nothing crazy like the training deck,” Lance said, kicking his feet idly at the island.

Keith hummed. “What do you have in mind?”

Lance blinked at him, then smirked. “Well, actually _you’re_ in my mind, in case you forgot.”

Keith rolled his eyes. “Great. Just a ton more jokes for you. Awesome. Glad this apparently going to be the rest of my life.”

Lance grinned, pointing his spoon at him. “You like it. I can feel it.”

He sighed. “And now I can’t even act annoyed at you anymore. What kind of banter is between people that can hear each other’s thoughts?”

Lance let out a laugh, nudging him with his shoulder. “I’m sure we can come up with something. We always do.”

Their energies hummed with newly nourished energy. Keith couldn’t help but feel like he actually did want to see what this would be like on the training deck.

“Are you sure-,”

“No training deck, Mr. Concussion. We’re on Dr. Coran’s orders to take it easy,” Lance said, cutting him off.

Keith pouted at him. Lance glanced and then balked.

“Wha-no! No training deck!”

“But, we should really see how the bond would react to us in combat!” Keith said, pushing it.

Lance narrowed his eyes, stubborn. “Do you _want_ to send yourself into a coma? Not happening. We can train after the next mission. It’s just a diplomatic one. No combat.”

Keith scoffed. “Yeah, like that’s ever worked out for us. ‘It’s just a diplomatic one!’ and next thing we know we’re getting chased through the woods by giant rats.”

Lance opened his mouth to argue back, then frowned. “Okay, you got me there.”

“So, training?” he said, perking up.

Lance worked his jaw, concentrating. His energy pulsed with steady thought, flitting between colors of navy and burgundy red.

Keith couldn’t help but feel warm at the protective color in there.

“Ugh, fine,” Lance relented. “But, we train as a team and on a low level. Got it?”

Keith nodded, excited to see how they interact as partners with their newfound connection. Lance tsked, shaking his head.

“I never thought you actually _liked_ fighting. I thought you did it because you had nothing else to do,” he said, curiously.

Keith considered that. “Well…I don’t know if _like_ is really the word. More…it’s a way for me to just get comfortable as a paladin. So I don’t worry as much on missions. I’m someone that relies a lot on muscle memory and instinct. I don’t…really strategize well. In the middle of a fight I want to just be able to get out of my own head and do it.”

Lance hummed. “Okay, I guess that actually makes sense. I’m pretty much the opposite though. I overthink _everything._ Every little detail, every little movement. I have to make sure that wherever I am, fighting whoever I’m fighting that I can use the terrain and their weaknesses to strengthen our own as a team. So training to me…doesn’t work that well because I can’t take it seriously. I know that it’s just a computer. That it’s not real. So it feels tedious.”

“Hm. I guess I always assumed you were just lazy,” Keith said, smirking. Lance huffed, kicking at his shin under the table.

“I’ve always been this way. I’m at my best when I’m improvising. Drove my sister crazy when we were dancing,” he said.

Keith blinked at him, surprised. “Huh? Dancing?”

Lance’s eyes shot open wide, seemingly not realizing he said that. His aura even froze and turned a bright magenta.

“Uh, that’s….well just…uh,” he stammered, red as a tomato.

Keith was then struck with a memory that was obviously not his own. It was a ballroom, with a bunch of pre-teen and teenagers coupled together and twirling around. They were contestants, with numbers on their backs and he was looking down at a younger girl in his arms. She had bright McClain blue eyes and long dark brown hair, styled to perfection. She winked at him, then his arms twirled her out and she struck a pose.

The memory ended and Keith let out a sharp breath.

“Oh…my gods,” he said, grinning at Lance, who had his burning face hidden in his hands.

“You say one word about this to anyone and I will _end_ you,” Lance said, revealing his face again and glaring at him.

Keith’s arms came up to show surrender. “Like I would have any reason to.”

Lance sighed in relief. Keith couldn’t help but smirk again, though.

“So…did you win?”

Lance growled in irritation, kicking at his shin again. Keith laughed, loudly.

“But did you?”

There was a long pause.

“We were Junior League champions for two years in a row in middle school,” he murmured, forehead in his hand.

Keith whistled. “Impressive, McClain. Probably. I think.”

Lance rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah, make fun of me all you want.”

“No really, that’s pretty cool I think. Plus, who cares what anyone else thinks? If you liked doing it, then that’s good enough reason to,” he said, shrugging.

Lance narrowed his eyes in suspicion. His energy reached out to see if he was lying or not, then he sat back in surprise.

“You’re serious? I thought you’d totally think I was a loser!” he said.

Keith snorted. “I already thought you were a loser. Not like that was gonna change.”

Lance scoffed, affronted. Except their energies gave away that they were still just teasing each other.

“Well I showed you an embarrassing part of my life. Time for you to make it even. What was something that _you_ did back in the day that was super embarrassing?”

Keith froze, then immediately cringed. He couldn’t help the resurgence of memory of him when he was maybe twelve, at a comic convention dressed as Sasuke from Naruto Shippuden. He tried to reign it in from reaching Lance, but knew it was too late.

Lance gasped, standing up from his chair and leaning over in unrestrained glee.

“You were an anime _cosplay_ nerd? Holy shit, dude. Oh-oh my gods that’s _golden!”_

Keith stood up, too, brandishing his blade. “I swear to all the gods, Lance. If you breath a word of that…”

Lance hummed, entirely too pleased with this information. “Fine. We make a pact any point of this that we find out embarrassing things about each other to keep it to ourselves.”

Keith reached a hand out. “Deal.”

They shook, energies pulsing with suspicion, then amusement.

“So, Sasuke, huh? Bad boy infatuation?”

Keith transformed his blade to its sword form and growled.

“Let’s train, you asshole.”

They changed into more athletic wear, Keith with a pair of black leggings and a cropped sweatshirt and Lance in thin sweatpants and a tank top.

“Wow, you really are gay, huh? I can’t believe I never noticed before,” Lance said, eyebrow up at the thin sliver of skin between the sweatshirt and leggings.

Keith rolled his eyes and ignored him. “Start partner training level three.”

They transformed their bayards and got ready back to back, energies pulsing with anticipation, colored a bright lime green. It was new to them, as their auras tinged the green with their own personalities of yellow and orange.

The gladiators dropped. There were four of them.

Keith leapt into action and felt as Lance did too behind him.

He knocked the first gladiator down with a sweep to his legs and heard as Lance shot down two of them. He stabbed the one on the ground in the chest.

He felt the twinge from Lance alerting Keith that he saw another gladiator coming after him from behind. He translated his intent through the bond before he spun and caught the gladiator off guard by arcing his sword through its head.

Within maybe five ticks, they were all down.

He and Lance gaped at each other, shocked. Then excitement pulsed between them, incredibly the exact same shade of yellow.

“I knew you were going to do that!” Lance said, pointing to him.

“And I felt you telling me he was coming after me!” Keith said, laughing in elation.

“Oh, wow, this is…super cool!”

“That cut the time probably by half!”

They upped the difficulty by a few levels, really getting into the zone.

Usually with partner work, they had to call out to each other at least every thirty ticks, to alert them of something or call for a specific move.

But, with their bond they could translate their intentions before even finishing the thought themselves. They learned how their colors in their auras changed and what they meant, which colors meant that their partner was in trouble or if they needed backup, so on and so forth.

Their stats ranked up like crazy.

They all had numbers saved into the computer of which paladins worked the best together or solo. Before, Lance and Keith were about third in line behind Keith and Shiro and Shiro and Allura.

But after a few vargas of duo training with their bond, they quickly overtook Shiro and Allura’s duo stats and then finally came out on top.

Lance called off the exercise, breathing hard and wiping sweat. They both stared at the leader board, dumbstruck.

“That’s…insane, man. Your partner stats with Shiro have always been way ahead of all of us!” he said, panting.

Keith didn’t know what to say. “Uh, yeah. I mean, we were even sparring when I was a kid. We just know each other really well. But, even we have to call out to each other sometimes. We haven’t had to do that once. At all.”

Lance let out a sharp laugh. “I wonder what he’ll say to this.”

“I’ll say that I’m impressed.”

They both jumped in alarm, whipping around to see Shiro standing the doorway, contemplative with a few towels and vitamin juice pouches.

Keith felt nervous all of a sudden, like he was caught doing something we wasn’t supposed to be doing. Lance seemed to catch on to this, because he was the one that waved.

“Hey, Shiro. Don’t worry, I’ve been making sure Keith doesn’t overdo it. I can tell when he’s getting tired,” he said, taking a towel and vitamin pouch that Shiro offered.

Shiro hummed, still staring at the leader board.

“Through your…what do you call it again?” he asked, an eyebrow up at Keith.

Keith’s face burned with heat and he looked away. “Bond.”

Lance gave Keith a towel and vitamin pouch, too. His energy pulsed with reassurance and steadfast support. It looked like the sand from the Garrison desert and felt like….

It reminded Keith of his dad.

“Yeah. We’ve been doing really well with this bond thing. Partner work is really cool for us now. It was Keith’s idea we try training,” he said, with a tone that was a little more forceful than he usually would use around Shiro. “I told him only if we stop as soon as he felt any headache or anything.”

Keith glanced at him as he slowly wiped sweat from his forehead. Lance’s expression was carefully crafted to be genuine and calm, but Keith could tell there was a stubborn tension there.

He couldn’t help but warm from the inside out at how Lance was obviously standing up for him.

Lance glanced at him, then gave him a small smile.

“Right. Well, I guess that’s…good then. If this strengthens you both as a team,” Shiro said, carefully watching them interact.

“Uh yeah,” Keith said, clearing his throat. “But uh, we were just getting done if you wanted the deck. Still trying to take it easy, you know.”

Lance grinned, placing a hand on Keith’s shoulder. “Yep, so we’re going to go now. See you later, Shiro!”

Keith was quickly pushed out from the deck. He looked back one more time, locking eyes with a concentrated Shiro.

He gulped in anxiety.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lmao listen i'm not saying anything about "cringy" anime cosplayers or whatever, i just think it'd be funny as hell if Keith went through a weeb phase rather than just an emo phase  
> And i posted another WIP! Go take a look!!


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The boys have a misunderstanding...but things are easily resolved when you can feel the other person

They showered and dressed in comfortable clothes, falling onto the sofa in the lounge area. They had a careful foot of space between them, just like their sleepover.

More and more Lance wanted to close that space.

Keith’s energy still flitted with a nervous tinge, colored midnight blue and specks of purple.

“What do you wanna do now?” Lance asked, setting his head up on a fist with his elbow on the back of the sofa.

Keith shrugged, absentminded. “Whatever.”

Lance hummed, then got up. “I’ll set up the projector and we can watch a weird Altean movie.”

The movie played, with English subtitles. They both struggled to pay attention and after a while, Keith spoke up.

“What do you-uh, what do you think of Shiro?” Keith asked, aura jittery with nervous purple.

Lance took a long deep breath, running a hand over the back of his neck.

“Well, obviously I really admire him. As a pilot from the Garrison. And he’s really good as a leader. We would probably fall apart without him as a…pillar of sorts,” he said, choosing his words carefully.

Keith looked at him in his peripherals. “I’m sensing a ‘but’ coming.”

Lance sighed, bringing up a knee to lay on the sofa and turning his whole body towards Keith.

“ _But…_ sometimes he can be…overly cautious. Of things he doesn’t understand. Especially when it comes to you,” he said, shrugging. “And it’s not like I don’t get that. He’s…like a mentor to you. He’s protective. But, I think you could really…I don’t know, _flourish?_ If Shiro, just trusted you a bit more. That you knew what you were doing.”

Keith pulled in his energy then, closing off Lance to him. It felt like an immediate loss of warmth. He sucked in a breath, reeling back.

“He _does_ trust me. You shouldn’t pick fights with him. He’s just concerned. This is a really…freaky thing that’s happened to us,” Keith said, glaring at him.

Lance felt his heart plummet through the floor. “ _F-freaky?_ Do you….you don’t want this?”

Keith looked at him with wide eyes. “Wait-no, that’s not-,”

Lance stood up, turning off the screen. He pulled in his energy to hold close to his chest and imagined walls coming up to cut Keith off.

“I’m going to…go find Hunk. We haven’t hung out for a while,” he said, voice controlled and as even as possible.

Keith’s aura then unfurled, as he stood up. “Lance, no wait-,”

But, Lance didn’t listen as he walked out, shutting the door behind him and locking it for good measure.

His emotions were entirely his own again for the first time in days and it left him empty and shallow.

_I’m too much. I knew it. I’m always too much._

Lance walked the lengths of the hallway, shoving his hands deep in the comfort of his jacket and sighed, shivering at the loss of Keith’s sunspot warmth.

He went to the first place he thought of looking for Hunk, in the kitchen. It was empty. He moved on to the workplace that he and Pidge had set up for themselves, but it was only Pidge typing away and working on a project.

She looked up, then her eyebrows shot up in curiosity.

“Hey Lance. What’s up?”

He shrugged. “Looking for Hunk.”

She hummed, turning back to her computer and typing some more.

“He’s in the lions’ hangar doing some work on Yellow. She was saying that her joints were needing some maintenance,” she said, still glancing curiously at him. “Just wanting to hang out?”

Lance rubbed at his neck. “Yeah. I don’t really have anything that I’m doing.”

“I thought you and Keith had something going on? You’ve been weirdly attached at the hips the past few days, right?” she asked, pushing up her glasses and smirking at him.

His face heated up and he laughed, nervously. “Huh? Not really. Just hanging out a little.”

“You were doing duo work so hard that neither of you even noticed when Hunk and I went to check on you. That never happens,” Pidge said, smirking even harder.

“I-it was just…we were working well together!” he said, defensively.

Pidge hummed. “Interesting. _Very_ interesting.”

He turned around and flipped her off behind his back. “Alright, I’m leaving. Goodbye and I hate you.”

She cackled as he walked out. He sighed in the hallway, before heading off to the lions hangar. His head started to ache a little at keeping his walls up as hard as he could, trying to reign in his emotions from reaching Keith.

As he got close to the hangar, he felt _both_ the red and blue lions over his mind. He gently pushed them, trying to convey that he wanted to hang out with Hunk instead of other minds invading his.

They both pulled back, except he felt a reluctance and questioning air from the Red lion. It was obvious she was asking about Keith.

He gave a noncommittal shrug, then headed over to the yellow lion and he heard the telltale sounds of Hunk working.

“Hey, Hunky man!” he called up, as Hunk was bent over on the yellow lion’s paw.

Hunk jumped in surprise, nearly falling off the paw. He looked down and sighed.

“Lance! Don’t do that, geez!”

He chuckled, hand going up and Hunk without another word pulled him up. He settled on the paw as Hunk went back to work.

“I though you and Keith were hanging out. Which…was already pretty weird.”

Lance rolled his eyes. “Is it really so weird? We’re teammates and…friends you know.”

Hunk gave him a look, unimpressed. “Okay. So why now? What’s changed? Come on, you guys barely gave each other the time of day before. Now, you’re literally watching over him as he sits with a concussion, reading together and even training so hard that you beat out Shiro and Allura’s duo stats?”

Lance looked away, crossing his arms.

“We’re now at the top, but that’s still not anything weird…” he muttered.

“Wait, what?” Hunk said, dropping his wrench and whipping around. “You beat Keith and Shiro? They were ahead of us by like a hundred points!”

Lance’s mouth twitched into a smile. “Yeah...”

Hunk then turned to him fully, sitting with his legs crossed. “Alright. You best tell me what’s going on, right now.”

Lance groaned, dropping his head into his hands. “I…I don’t know what to tell you, dude. Something’s….just changed?”

“ _What’s_ changed, though?”

He bit his lip, letting his head fall back against the leg of the yellow lion.

“It’s like…we understand each other better? Now? I…guess?” he said, nervously. “It’s really hard to explain. Like something just…clicked.”

Hunk studied him for a little bit, suspicious. “How? How do you understand him?”

Lance pulled up his legs to set his arms on his knees. He fiddled his fingers.

“Before…things happened, I thought that Keith was just some…cold, emotionless genius pilot. Like he thought he was better than all of us. But, now…I know some things about him. And he’s actually…really soft and caring. And he has a lot of things he’s afraid of. He’s…we actually work really well as…friends,” he said, trying to jump around a topic.

Hunk slowly smiled, then set his chin in his palm, elbow on his knee.

“Really? And that’s what you think? That you work well? As… _friends?”_ he asked, wiggling his eyebrows.

Lance unfolded, moving to jump off the paw. “You know, great talk, I think I’ll-,”

Hunk grabbed his arm and moved him back, easily. “You’re not going anywhere. The fact you came to me at all means you wanted to talk this through with someone.”

Lance grimaced, pained. “Uh, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Hunk looked unimpressed with the attempt again. Lance made sure all of his walls were so far up that he could imagine a lock and chain.

“Come on, Lance. I’m your best friend. I know you. And I know there’s something more happening.”

Lance pursed his lips, then sighed deeply.

“I…I might have some more feelings going on. I don’t know, dude. It’s all…just suddenly changing. I need more time to figure it out. Plus, I think he’s already feeling too overwhelmed by…me.”

Hunk frowned. “What makes you say that?”

Lance didn’t know how to explain anything without going into the bond.

“We…had an…argument? And Keith said something that…alluded to our new…relationship? As quote, unquote ‘freaky’.”

Hunk reeled back in alarm, which Lance waved his hands at.

“There’s…way more to that, though. But, I can’t tell you about those parts because, uh, it’s…uh, personal.”

He furrowed his brows in confusion. “O…kay? And…whatever happened to make you change your feelings…you _don’t_ think it’s freaky?”

Lance stalled, then deflated.

“No. I…actually really like what’s going on. I can’t deny, at first, it was pretty weird. And sometimes it gets kind of hard to deal with. But…” Lance sighed, bringing up his knees and setting his chin down into his crossed arms. “It’s also…really cool and nice?”

Hunk blinked his eyes, then he gasped, clutching at his chest. “Oh my gods, you’re having sex with him aren’t you?”

Lance whipped around in shock and his face exploded in heat. “What? No! Not-Jesus, no!”

“Well, then I don’t know what’s going on at all,” he said, frowning. “It totally sounds like you’re friends with benefits.”

“We’re not…gods, no!” Lance said, waving his arms. “I can’t really tell you what’s actually going on, but it’s not that.”

“Are you just…making out or something?” Hunk asked, tilting his head. “Secretly dating?”

“ _No!”_

“Okay, okay!” he said, hands up. “So _something_ is going on and Keith seems to think it’s freaky and _you_ seem to like it.”

Lance sighed, rubbing at his now throbbing head, after keeping his walls up so hard for so long.

“I…yeah, that’s pretty much it. And I walked out, because I got…upset.”

Hunk nodded, humming. “Okay. So now what? What do you want to do?”

He paused, considering that. “What do you think I should do?”

“Well, you seem to like him? And what’s going on? I think you should go and see what he has to say. I don’t think Keith would just…say that. He just might not know how else to express himself.”

Lance looked down, then slowly pulled his walls down, unlocking the lock and chain.

He sucked in a breath, as Keith’s overwhelming guilt and shame washed over him. It made his eyes water and his heart started pounding.

“Yeah,” he wheezed out, winded. “Yeah, I…think I’ve got to do that.”

He hurried to slide off the paw and nearly tripped as the emotions rolled over his mind. He gulped and breathed deeply, trying to keep himself from getting lost in Keith’s rolling self-hatred.

Lance held his now pounding head and jogged down the hallway, following the tendrils of the dark grey and forest green. It smelled like salt and copper.

The hallways turned darker this far back and he breathed out in relief as he found Keith curled up in the alcove of a window. He glanced over, eyes darkened and glazed over.

Lance sighed, sliding down the other side of the alcove and setting his arms on his knees.

“Stop beating yourself up. It’s giving me a headache,” he said, knocking his foot against Keith’s.

Keith’s aura stuttered to a stop and then it swirled back into his chest.

“I didn’t mean it.”

Lance’s mouth twitched into a small smile, because without even having to search through Keith’s feelings, he knew that it was true.

“I know,” he said, reaching out with an olive branch tendril of energy. “I just…freaked out because I’m so worried that you’re actually uncomfortable. You’re so…closed up and hard to read sometimes. And this is so intense and overwhelming. I always worry that I get too much for people and I can’t even imagine how it’d feel for my real emotions actually being projected.”

Keith straightened up, aura shifting into calmer and warmer. It tinged redder and yellower.

“You’re not too much. I swear. I…I just said that because I know that’s what _Shiro_ thinks of it. Ever since he came back from being imprisoned by the Galra, he’s had a lot of problems…with the idea of people being in his head. He’s cautious for me because he doesn’t want me to be…brainwashed.”

Lance lost tension in his shoulders and felt a surge of guilt. He completely forgot about Shiro’s past with mind-melds and brainwashing.

“Don’t feel bad, though,” Keith continued, obviously feeling the change in mood. “You’ve only been being protective of me, too. You’ve both only been trying to be on my side.”

Lance worked his jaw, thinking it all through. “How…how do _you_ feel? Do you really think this is actually, I don’t know… _changing_ you?”

Keith blinked at him, surprised. He looked back out into space, thoughtful.

“No. Actually…I think you’ve shown me who I _really_ am. This bond has knocked down my walls to you immediately. It’s like all of a sudden…I don’t have to put on a front. Of being detached and in control. You’ve shown me that I can be passionate and open. I _like_ that.”

Lance’s chest warmed with excitement and pride, smiling at the compliment. Keith’s mouth twitched.

“How about I promise to let you deal with how Shiro reacts to us? He’s closest to you. He’s your big brother figure. I won’t get in the way again.”

Keith looked back at him with a soft smile, energy rolling back out with warmth and gratefulness.

“You can…still step in if you feel like you should. Half of this bond is you, too. I don’t want Shiro to make you feel like you’re in the wrong either. You haven’t done anything except be you,” he said, letting their energies entwine again.

This time, it felt a lot more intimate. Open. Like they were both exposed from the inside out.

Lance nodded, offering a hand. “It seems like this bond has just become some weird business deal.”

They both chuckled, as Keith shook the hand.

“Why don’t we just hang out the rest of the day?” Keith asked.

The whole day just went by with soft smiles at each other, eating together and movies. They spoke easily and about anything and everything. Lance was feeling much mushier and fonder of his new…friend.

Yeah. Friend.

Wordlessly, they went back to Lance’s room and got ready for bed. Keith looked at Lance’s jacket on the chair for a bit.

Lance felt through his feelings, recognizing contemplation and wonder.

“Do…you want to borrow it?” Lance asked, gesturing to it.

Keith’s head whipped to him, cheeks turning bright pink and aura reflecting that too. Lance’s mouth twitched into a smirk. He picked it up and set it over Keith’s shoulders, on top of his t-shirt. He then put up the hood, just because he could.

The jacket engulfed his arms and shoulders, as Keith was shorter and more compact than Lance’s long lanky limbs and torso.

_A-fucking-dorable._

Keith gave him a strange look, then pouted a little.

“I was just wanting something warm,” he said, looking away.

Lance chuckled, putting a finger under Keith’s chin. “Then there you go.”

They just settled in the nest again. That time, there was only an inch between them. They stared at each other for a while.

“Good night, samurai.”

Keith smiled, turning to his side, tucking his hands under his cheek.

“Night, sharpshooter.”

Their energies had a much pinker tinge to them than ever before.

Lance was beginning to think he knew what that color meant.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A trip to a new world and some cute moments

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so the aliens are genderless and use 'they' pronouns, not because non-binary people and identities are alien and different, but because it made me feel nice

“We here in the Council of Elders of Narilia welcome the paladins of Voltron.”

The planet Narilia had an interesting climate in which it rained all the time. If they ever wanted to stop it, they had a special ceremony they needed to do with a tech beam that opened the cloud layer and letting in the sun’s rays. They seemed to do it once a week, to keep the plants healthy and thriving.

The people of Narilia had giant stalks of what looked like antlers? But it had the same color pastel green as their skin, with tiny beady brown eyes that sat close together on their forehead.

Keith couldn’t help staring at their antlers, blinking at them.

_Aliens are so weird looking sometimes._

Lance glanced at him in his peripherals, tendrils pulling at him to get his attention back on the conversation. Keith shook his head minutely and settled back to focus.

“I understand the urgency of an Alliance. And we groupings have already decided it’d be pragmatic to join, offering technological advancements with climate control machinery in exchange that Voltron promises to protect our people.”

The leader of the council was…a very bright looking Narilian with a cracking voice. Keith had next to no clue what gender they were supposed to be. Their clothes all looked the same robe material that cinched at their waists, which sat higher than humanoids, their legs taking up nearly their entire body.

“We except these terms,” Allura said, smiling gently and easy, not at all distracted by their appearance.

One of the council members stood and then put one of their seven fingers on each hand to the ends of the antlers. Keith nearly stepped back in shock as their antlers glowed bright neon green.

“We honor the paladins. May you achieve victory against the tyrants of the Galra Empire.”

The rest of the council members followed suit and even Lance’s energy seemed to pulse with awe and wonder.

“Well, these people are really cool,” Lance whispered to Keith.

Keith nodded, blinking at the brightness.

The paladins bowed in turn, offering their own tribute.

“We invite you to our celebration tonight in the forest’s center. The rains are warm and comfortable today, signaling the change of season. We have a feast ready to honor both Voltron and this event,” another council member said.

Allura looked around at the team, who all shrugged.

“We’d…be honored,” she said, smiling at them.

The team was then given the rest of the day off, to explore and do more. Hunk and Pidge immediately asked where the climate control machinery was, Shiro and Allura stayed to speak more logistically how contacting Narilia would work in the future, Coran hurried back to finish up the last of the repairs to the castle.

Lance and Keith were the ones left with nothing much to do.

“Rain,” Lance said, staring out the door, wistfully. “I missed rain.”

Keith felt the edges of bittersweet memory and the smell of a hot summer rain. They both walked out to stand under the porch awning to look out at the Narilian rain.

It smelled like rose, strangely.

“I liked rain on Earth, too,” Keith said, reaching a hand out and letting the water gather on his palm. “It was calming. The desert didn’t get a lot of it, though.”

Lance chuckled, eyes sparkling bright and blue at the weeping sky. “Of course not, it was a desert.”

“What is a desert?”

They both jumped and whipped around in shock, as the youngest of the council approached them. Keith had to step away as they settled between them, their antlers creating a wide berth.

Lance blinked at them, then laughed a little.

“Oh, I guess you’d never heard of a desert. It’s a…type of biome where there isn’t a lot of rain and a lot of sun and like…dry sand and rocks and not a lot of plants,” Lance said. “We had some of those on Earth. Keith over here lived in a shack in the desert for a year.”

The Narilian blinked their beady eyes in shock. “ _No_ rain? That sounds horrible! The rain gives us life!”

Keith hummed, tilting his head a few times. “It’s definitely different. But there was something, kind of nice about it. And it’s not like there was _never_ rain. Or no plants at all. There was a harshness to it, though.”

“Ah, I see. I understand that if it is your home, then it is made for you,” they said, kindly.

Keith stepped around to face the Narilian and closer to Lance, for better angle to talk to them.

“Well, it wasn’t really home either. It was just a place to be. The closest I’ve had to a home is….well, Voltron. The team,” he said, suddenly embarrassed.

Lance’s energy stuttered, then surrounded him in warmth and fondness. It was bright yellow and blue tinged. Very _Lance._

“Oh, then that’s quite good that you found your home. That is quite special,” the Narilian said, smiling at him. “Would you want me to escort you to the markets? If you have no other plans, that is.”

Lance perked up. “Sure! What should we call you? Do you have a name?”

The Narilian blinked. “Oh, we call each other by our designation. I am Council Member Theros.”

He grinned. “Oh, then nice to meet you, Council Member Theros. I’m Lance and this is Keith. You can just say Lance or Keith.”

Theros touched an antler, making a vein glow like before.

“It’s an honor to meet you as well,” they said, gently.

They walked together into the rain as a group, immediately soaking through Lance and Keith’s armor. They had left their helmets in their lions, wanting a more personable approach, but that meant that Keith’s unruly long hair stuck to his face.

He pushed it back and slicked it from his face, irritated. His tendrils that stayed entwined with Lance’s felt a strange change in emotions, like Lance grew hot in his insides.

He glanced over and Lance was staring at him. His hair stuck down against his head and his face dripping wet.

“What?” he asked, quietly.

Lance’s eyes blinked, then he looked away. His aura tinged pink.

“Nothing.”

Theros led them through the thick rainforest leaves and then they found a well-worn path.

They spoke together about Narilia and their culture. Lance and Keith then spoke about Earth culture.

“I understand that Earthians have something called ‘gender’?” Theros asked, curious. “What exactly is that?”

Lance opened his mouth a few times, obviously trying to find the words. “Uh, well…there’s male and female people? I guess? And men and women…correspond? But, that’s not always how it works. Some people don’t really fit into those roles. But normative ways keep gender roles around.”

“I see,” they said, frowning. “That sounds very strange. And divisive. Why should it matter if one is male or female?”

Keith shrugged. “A lot of people wanted to keep male and female partners to stay as just male and female, but a long time ago now people that didn’t really want to marry someone of opposite sex changed that. Now whoever wants to marry can marry, with any kind of pronouns or gender identity.”

Theros hummed. “Very strange. So…complicated.”

Lance chuckled. “Yeah, it sounds pretty weird out loud.”

They heard the chatterings of people, the edges of the rainforest thinning out and then Keith stepped closer to Lance as the markets seem to come into view.

There were only a few people milling about, not that much interaction as the usual markets. Theros led them to a stall, with a plastic covering over what was obviously food. The Narilian looked up and smiled.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve seen other-worldlings! I’ve heard that the legendary Voltron was here for an Alliance. Council Member Theros, would this be true?” they asked, excitedly.

Theros laughed a little under their breath. “Yes, it’s true. These are paladins Lance and Keith of Voltron.”

They both waved a little.

“It’s such an honor!” they said, brightly. “Here, try our Narilian delicacy.”

They accepted a plastic stick with a yellow tuberous-looking root that was steaming and smelled like cheese.

Keith hesitated, warily glancing to Lance.

Lance shrugged at him.

Keith took a tiny bite, which tasted….

He balked in surprise.

“What? Is it good?” Lance asked, curiously.

“It tastes exactly like a hotdog.”

Lance scoffed, incredulous. “No way. Give me that.”

He took a bite from the other end, then his eyes widened in shock.

“Oh my god, my dude. You’ve made the best thing that I’ve had since coming into space. Thank you for this,” Lance said, turning to the cook.

The Narilian smiled, delighted. “You enjoy it, then?”

“Yes, oh wow. It tastes just like something we have on Earth! This is crazy…”

Theros chuckled at them. Keith gestured that he wanted another bite and Lance grinned at him. He gave him his side and he took a bigger bite.

“It’s like…hotdog with…cheese? How…” Keith said, genuinely very confused.

“No clue, but it’s awesome!”

They moved on after thanking the cook again. Lance and Keith’s energies stayed connected under the rain. The colors stayed vibrant despite the muddying of the rain and cloudy sky.

Keith’s eyes roamed over the markets, gentle and at ease.

He noted what kinds of things were being sold, draping clothes, foods of all kinds, tools and jewelry. The usual things that were at markets around the universe.

“It’s interesting that nearly everywhere we go, about the same stuff is being sold, huh?” Lance said, echoing Keith’s thoughts.

Keith then wondered if Lance really could hear his thoughts and just didn’t tell him.

“Yeah…what do you usually like to get at these things?” Keith asked, casually.

Lance hummed, eyes excited and bouncing on his heels to look around. “Oh I like pretty much everything! Clothes, trinkets, doo-dads!”

“Doo-dads?” Keith asked, laughing a little.

“Oh, you know. The thingamajigs and such,” Lance said, nudging him a little with his shoulder. “What about you?”

“I’m more of a whatchamacallit guy myself,” Keith said, smirking.

Lance blinked and then threw his head back and laughed. “Oh, Keith, my man. You need to tell jokes more often, you’re way funnier than you let on.”

Keith grinned at making Lance laugh. He wondered if that was why Lance always made lame jokes. It was pretty fun to make someone laugh like that.

“So what do you want here?” Keith asked, letting Theros stop and talk to a Narilian about internal affairs. “I’ll get it for you.”

Lance looked over, water flinging off his face at the sudden movement. His energy churned with blue and pinks and yellows.

“What? Why?”

Keith slicked back his hair again, after the water had moved it to plaster against his forehead.

“I don’t know. Because I…want to?” Keith said, shrugging.

Lance’s bright, sparkling blue eyes watched the movement, staring.

“Uh, oh, uh…you don’t have to, though.”

Keith reached out a red tendril and wrapped it around Lance’s fliting tendrils.

“I just said that I _wanted_ to.”

Lance’s aura turned a very bright pastel pink and his cheeks colored darker.

“Okay. Well, uh, how about…you surprise me?” he said, mouth twitching as he tried to keep a smile off his face.

Keith hummed, nodding. “Alright. Stick to Theros and I’ll be back in a minute. Stay sharp.”

Lance winked at him. “Always sharp, samurai. You know me.”

Keith’s heart totally did _not_ skip a beat at that.

He let his tendrils keep tabs on where Lance was around the markets. He moved around, trying to see what was around. He lingered around the jewelry, picturing Lance wearing the blue gems around his neck or in his ears.

His eyes then strayed over to the next stall, blinking at a strange bunch of blank frames. As though a bunch of pictures were put into frames that ended up getting erased. He walked over, curious.

The Narilian behind the stall perked up and they grinned.

“Paladin! I’m honored to offer you one of our memory pictures!”

He blinked at them, confused. “Memory-what?”

They reached over and picked up a blank frame, pointing to its blankness.

“This is made with telepsychic pulp from the trees of memory! It can project any memory and then you can have that memory saved forever!” they said. “See, now!”

They closed their eyes and concentrated. Their antlers pulsed with glowing veins and slowly, the paper’s blankness inked from the center out, projecting the Narilian’s memory. The picture shown was then of Keith’s curious expression.

Keith grinned, impressed. “Wow. That’s…really cool.”

_And perfect for Lance._

He knew that Lance really wished he had brought pictures of his family into space, he felt it every time Lance thought of Earth. The ache for at least something.

“What could I give you for…like three?” Keith asked, wondering how much he could carry.

The Narilian hummed, thoughtful. “I could give you one for free, but for multiple…I would need some kind of payment. Here, we give each other stories as payment. Our psychic abilities lends itself so that each new story enriches everyone’s lives. It’s for the good of the people.”

Keith nodded, thinking back for something worthwhile. “What kind of story? Something made up or…like something that’s happened to me?”

The Narilian shrugged. “Either one would work. For more value, is a story that holds emotion and meaning.”

Keith wondered. He then thought of something. When he opened his mouth, the Narilian closed their eyes and their antlers pulsed with glow.

“Okay. Uh, well, uh, when I was a kid, my dad used to tell me not to play in a creek near my house. It moved too quickly. Well, I was eight and I didn’t listen. I went and played with a girl across the street. She fell in. I was…freaking out. I thought she’d die. And it’d be all my fault for not listening to my dad. But as soon as she fell in, I heard my dad running. Apparently he’d found my backpack and figured I didn’t listen to him. He jumped in the creek, without a second thought. I was so scared that _he_ was going to die, too. But, of course he was a firefighter and really good at swimming too. He was calm and collected, grabbing the girl and heaving her out. He performed CPR on her, saving her life. That was the moment I knew, I wanted to be just like him. I wanted to be a hero, too.”

The Narilian sighed, opening their eyes and smiling.

“That was a lovely story, Paladin. Thank you for your payment. That was more than the value of three, you may have five! May I ask if this is for you or is it a gift?”

They packed up five small picture frames into a bag. Keith sighed with relief that it worked, taking the bag.

“Thank you. It’s for an…important person in my life,” he said, smiling a little to himself.

Keith really hoped Lance would like it.


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gifts!! And cute fluff!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hope you guys brought your toothbrushes because it's going get very sugary

Lance decided that if Keith was going to get something for him, then he would get something too.

“What do you think Keith would like?” Lance asked Theros, looking over the stalls.

They cocked their head curiously, swinging their antlers around and Lance had to back up from getting hit.

“Oh, I apologize!” they said, righting their head.

Lance laughed, waving his hands. “It’s fine! Fine.”

Theros breathed out a sigh of relief. “You asked about getting something for Keith?”

“Oh, yeah!” Lance said, looking over the markets. “He went off to get me something and I want to get him something.”

He felt through their bonds. Keith was standing off a little ways away, feeling….

Excited?

Lance smiled at the emotion.

“Are you and Keith close?” Theros asked, curious.

Lance cleared his throat, wiping some rain from getting into his eyes.

“Uh, we’re friends. For sure…”

Theros hummed, nodding. “I see. Our people have psychic connections on a subliminal level. I can…sense there is a deep connection with you and Keith.”

Lance stalled, feeling nervous at that. “Oh! Well, yeah. Uh, well I guess with Voltron, we all have a connection. The lions let us kind of mind meld.”

Theros smirked. “I understand now. Your connection is a secret then?”

“I…what? There’s….” Lance could tell from their face that he couldn’t lie.

“Yeah. It’s a secret. We have a bond. Of sorts,” he said, sighing.

Theros chuckled. “Don’t worry. Your secret is hidden. Council members have heightened senses of psychic abilities. No one else would be able to tell.”

Lance smiled at them, grateful for their discretion.

“But, wouldn’t you be more apt to know what Keith would like?”

He shrugged. “Yeah. I know he likes knives? Or…he _has_ knives at least. I know he likes…crop tops?”

He frowned when he realized he didn’t know what else he would like. Keith said he didn’t _like_ fighting. But, he’s never gone into what he _does_ like.

“I don’t know about anything else, though. Damn, I’m like…not a good friend, am I?”

Theros patted his arm. “I’m sure you’ve just been distracted. Being a paladin must be a lot of work, yes?”

Lance pouted. “But…I know he’s going to get me something great and probably super cool. I should, too!”

“I’m sure you can think of something. Your energy suggests you are quite empathetic and thoughtful.”

He looked around, trying to think of something.

Lance found a line of puff balls that looked like they were moving? His curiosity got the better of him and he meandered over, blinking at the small puff balls that rolled inwardly as though something were trying to escape.

The balls were the size of his entire fist or just tiny as his palm. The colors were all shifting with the moving pins, through the whole rainbow in a tick.

The Narilian behind the stall blinked at him.

“You look very strange. Are you an off-worlder?” they asked, voice much higher than what he’d heard before.

Lance grinned at them, nodding. “I’m a paladin of Voltron.”

Their eyes widened and they covered their mouth.

“Oh-oh I’m not near worthy of serving you. I’m so, so sorry for troubling you!”

“You’re not troubling me!” he said, quickly to try and calm them. “I was just wondering what you have here?”

They looked down at the puff balls. “You-you are interested in the straret?”

He nodded. “Yeah, uh, what are they?”

They gingerly picked one up to show him. “These are…eggs. They connect to your deepest mind to give you a companion that is catered to you. Something that will give you what you need.”

“A companion?” Lance asked, confused.

They held up a finger, then stroked over the puff ball. It quaked and quivered, then suddenly burst, as if exploding from the inside out. Lance nearly jumped in alarm, but then gasped at what was sitting in their palm.

It was a blinking tiny animal, with wings on their fluffy back, giant black eyes and tiny antlers. The mouth opened and closed, then the tongue unfurled.

Lance watched as it produced a tiny mew to the Narilian.

“That is…the most adorable thing I’ve ever seen, oh…my gods,” he said, excitedly. “How much for one?”

The Narilian brightened and grinned wide. “Oh, for a paladin, you may have one for free!”

They picked one of the biggest up, offering it.

“Wait, if it’s a gift, could I make it so it doesn’t…hatch for me but for him instead?” he asked, fingers twitching.

“Oh, oh yes!” the Narilian said, setting their own little creature on a low branch of antler. Its large eyes blinked again, mewing again. Lance melted at its cuteness.

They wrapped up the egg in a cloth then handed it to Lance. The egg was warm and moved. He carefully tucked it in his utility belt.

Theros came up next to him, setting a gentle hand on his shoulder.

“I believe your team is calling you back to get ready in the castle in the sky.”

Lance nodded, feeling for Keith’s presence. He gently pulled at Keith’s tendrils and he saw a wet mass of hair look around down the path and lock eyes with him.

Keith smiled at him.

Lance waved.

Keith held up a huge bag that looked full of something.

Lance’s heart most _definitely_ skipped a beat.

Back at the castle, they were all sopping wet and shivering from being in the rain for hours.

They all took long hot showers, then Lance headed back to his room with a towel around his neck and just in his leggings. He held the wrapped egg in a careful hand.

He grinned as he found Keith wrapped up in the nest on the ground. He knew he was there, because he’d felt his calm swirling aura down the hallway.

And his cheeks warmed seeing him in Lance’s jacket.

Keith looked up, aura warming in fondness and he smiled.

“Hey,” Keith said, fingers crinkling in the plastic of the bag sitting in the nest.

“Hey there, samurai.”

Lance sat on the edge of his bed as Keith turned to look up at him from the ground. Keith’s aura turned nervous and he cleared his throat.

“Uh, so. I did get something.”

Lance huffed a chuckle. “I see a bag. And I think it’s time to tell you I got something for you too.”

Keith blinked in surprise as Lance set the wrapped egg on the bed next to him, in sight of Keith. The aura around Keith pulsed in surprise, then shot around in excitement.

Lance grinned at the change. “So…who goes first?”

Keith took a long deep breath, opening the bag and handing over what looked like a blank picture frame. It was the size of a usual printed 8x10 photograph. Lance took it in his hands, looking at it, wondering if this was some joke.

“Close your eyes. Think of Varadero again. Remember what it looked like. Concentrate on it,” Keith instructed, gesturing to the white picture.

Lance gave him a questioning look, but shrugged and closed his eyes, thinking back to his favorite beach scene. He remembered the specific day he went out there before sunrise and watched as the sky changed.

“Now open them.”

Lance opened his eyes, then let out a sharp breath.

The picture was no longer blank. It reflected his memory of Varadero beach, with every detail as sharp as could be. It even showed the sunrise’s pink, yellow, orange and purple blur on the horizon. There was even _his_ tree in the foreground, the one he etched his initials in with Veronica when he was a kid.

“Oh…oh my gods, Keith!” he said, suddenly incredibly emotional and eyes wet with tears. “That’s…how…?”

Keith let out a relieved sigh. “The Narilian said something about…uh, psychic tree something? It’s basically that if you hold the picture and think of a memory that you wished was something you took a picture of and then…there you go. Captured.”

Lance sniffled, stroking a finger over the depiction of his tree. “This is…so incredible. I can’t believe how…sweet this is?”

Keith’s cheeks turned pink as well as his aura. “Well, you’re in luck if you wanted to have more. I got five.”

He handed over the bag, Lance quickly opening it and rifling through to count all the rest of the four.

“Oh my gods, Keith, this is so…wow, I don’t even know what to say…”

Keith grinned. “I thought that maybe you can use them to get a little more Earth in your life.”

Lance eyes totally spilled over then, sniffling at the picture of his beach.

“This is the best gift ever. You’re the best.”

Keith’s aura tinged way pinker then.

Lance quickly put down the bag, then carefully picked up the pulsing puff ball. He unwrapped the cloth, then offered it.

“This is what I got you,” Lance said, voice still shaking a little. “Uh, be careful holding it.”

Keith’s eyebrow went up in confusion, as he took the ball in both his hands. He cupped the ball, blinking at it, not understanding.

“The Narilian, uh, like petted it so do that,” Lance said, awkwardly.

He cocked his head and then ran a few fingers over the rolling ball. The fuzz quivered just like before. Keith reeled back, as the ball puffed out and burst.

Sitting in Keith’s hand was a small mewling kitten.

Keith gaped in shock as the small pink kitten unfurled from its curled position, giant red eyes blinking at him. Its tail had a puff at the end, but mostly it looked just like a cat from Earth.

Lance gasped and he laughed in excitement. “Oh my gods! You got a kitty!”

Keith looked back up at him, jaw to the floor. Lance was very relieved to feel that Keith was incredibly in awe and thrilled through their bond.

“What-this is…how does this…?” Keith stammered, as the kitten yawned, then cocked its little head at him.

Lance shrugged. “I don’t know. Something about connecting in your mind to give you a companion that you really need? Or…something?”

Keith carefully lowered the kitten to sit in the nest, then moved a hand to wiggle a finger in its face. The kitten licked the finger and Lance melted.

“Aw, oh my gods, I can’t believe you got a tiny adorable baby kitten! I was so convinced you were going to get like a giant wolf or something.”

Keith huffed a laugh, rolling his eyes. “Honestly. What am I going to feed it?”

The kitten stretched out its legs, getting a handle on them. It took a few careful steps to Keith, then sniffed his knee. Then bravely reached up, scaling them. Lance cooed as the kitten then settled to sit on Keith’s knee.

It then let out the smallest, most adorable meow Lance had ever heard in his life.

“This is the absolute best day ever,” Lance said, quickly dropping down to the nest, very carefully reaching over and letting the kitten smell his fingers.

It meowed at him, licking his fingers a few times and Keith chuckled.

Keith ran a gentle two fingertips over the back of the kitten’s spine. The kitten preened, then let out a soft purring noise.

“Oh my gods, he purrs. I’m going to die of cuteness,” Lance whispered, sniffling at emotion again.

Keith gave him a small smile. “How’d you look at me and think ‘ah yes, you know what he needs? A baby animal’?”

Lance shrugged. “You need something to soften you up sometimes. Also give you a hobby outside slicing down enemies. We might be in a war, but we deserve some nice things every once in a while. Plus, Allura has the mice. We should be able to have some things like that, too.”

“You have Kaltenecker?”

“She’s different,” Lance said, waving a hand. “She’s a fully-fledged member of the team.”

Keith laughed, making the kitten meow at him louder.

“What are you going to name him?” Lance asked, finger scratching over the kitten’s head.

Keith shrugged. “I don’t know. Cat?”

Lance scoffed. “Excuse-no, no way. Not on my watch. Something better than that.”

“We don’t even know if it’s a ‘him’ or not,” Keith said, searching over the cat to see any ‘bits’ to compare.

Lance tsked. “As if that matters. Remember that whole ‘gender is a construct, nothing really matters’ conversation?”

Keith rolled his eyes. “What do _you_ want to name it then?”

“Hey man, it’s your cat,” Lance said, shrugging. “You should name it.”

Keith’s aura shifted a bit more to the nervous side. He looked purposefully at the kitten, running a gentle hand over the now curled up baby on his knee.

“Well, we…could take care of it together.”

Lance blinked at him, feeling very self-conscious of his own emotions at that point.

“Uh, wait, really?” he asked, stunned. “It’s supposed to be like…your own companion.”

Keith shrugged, looking at him through thick eyelashes, insecurely.

“I wouldn’t mind a…joint custody situation. Plus, I’ve never had a pet before. You’d be a big help.”

Lance grinned, trying to keep his inner screaming from being translated through their bond.

“Okay. How about…Puff? He came from a puff ball after all.”

Keith frowned. “No. That’s dumb.”

“Oh and ‘Cat’ is any better? I swear, if you ever had a kid, you’d just call it ‘baby’.”

They teased and argued over names, but came to no conclusion before being called onto the bridge for the run down for the festival.

Keith set the kitten on his shoulder before walking to the bridge with Lance.

“You don’t want to hide him?” Lance asked, nervously.

“Nah,” Keith said, as the kitten nuzzled his cheek. “That’s way too much work. We’re already having to hide this bond. Might as well just rip the band-aid off on the little guy. Plus, I don’t know how well he’d do on his own just yet.”

“Fair enough,” Lance said, cooing at the tiny creature.

The kitten purred as he stroked a finger down its back.

They stepped onto the bridge, pulling the attention of the team. They took a look at them, then all froze in place, comically.

They all turned around, Shiro dumbstruck, Hunk letting out a high-pitched squeal, Pidge just generally confused, Coran absolutely delighted and Allura blinking.

“Uh, Keith?” Allura asked, as Hunk carefully approached, hands over his mouth.

Keith ducked as the kitten crawled to sit on his head, then the team gasped as it let out a tiny meow.

“Yeah. Uh, so this happened,” Keith said, shrugging.

“Oh my gods, oh my gods,” Hunk said, quietly and captivated by the creature. “Can I pet…?”

Keith grinned and put a palm up next to his forehead, lowering the kitten down as it settled in his gloved hands. Hunk gently presented a finger for it to sniff and his entire body quaked as the kitten licked it.

“What-why do you have that?” Pidge asked, mystified.

“A gift,” Keith said, as Hunk stroked a finger over the kitten’s head.

“From…?” Shiro asked, crossing his arms.

Keith glanced at Lance, whose tendril just conveyed a shrug emotion.

“Well, from Lance.”

The whole team stopped in another bout of shock. All eyes swung to him and his anxiety shot up like a rocket. Lance let out an awkward laugh, scratching at the back of his neck.

“I thought he could use some…kind of animal companion. I found the little guy at the markets.”

Pidge tilted her head in interest at him and he looked away. Hunk was giving him the biggest shit-eating grin ever.

“You don’t say…” Hunk said, straightening up.

Lance shrugged, as nonchalantly as possible. “Thought it’d be good for him. And we could all do better with a happy samurai on the team.”

Shiro approached Keith, who looked back up, resolute. Shiro looked down at the kitten, now scaling back up to sit on Keith’s shoulder.

“You’re going to take care of it?” Shiro asked, doubtful.

Lance’s usual protectiveness reared its head again, but he kept it inside as he promised Keith that he’d let him take the lead on dealing with Shiro.

Keith nodded, then grabbed Shiro’s human hand, gently pulling it so that the kitten could sniff it. Shiro looked wary, until the kitten nuzzled the hand.

He breathed out and there was just a hint of a smile.

“Well, fine. It seems…at least very cute,” Shiro said, chuckling at the kitten licked his fingers.

Keith beamed, looking at Lance. Keith’s aura was pulsing with warm and fondness and dare Lance say it… _love._

Lance grinned so wide he was sure the sides of his mouth was touching his ears.


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A party!! And the kitty has a little secret...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh wow, i'm super glad everyone likes the kitty, I was super nervous about it i don't even know why lmao

The festival was held late at night. The forest had a center, cleared out for this very celebration it seemed and had a roaring fire in the middle. Narilians all danced together, holding onto each other’s antlers and circled around the fire.

There was a large dome over the center, produced by a combination of psychic energy and climate technology, to keep the festival dry of the constant rain.

Keith grinned as his new kitten nuzzled into his hair.

He still couldn’t believe Lance got him a _baby animal._

No one in his entire life had ever looked at him and thought that he could ever want a pet of any kind. Let alone a tiny, meowing one that looked as though it was taken out of a child’s imagination from a cartoon.

Lance had been staring at him a lot, which is exactly what he was doing right then, smiling with such deep-rooted fondness and care that it made Keith’s chest ache with the weight of it.

He was honestly losing track on whose emotions were whose.

And he was beginning to not mind it at all.

Lance went off with Hunk and Pidge, Shiro and Allura went off to pay their respects to the council and Coran immediately went to chat up the locals about their history and their psychic abilities.

Keith settled back at a stool at a high table, accepting a drink from a Narilian who melted at his kitten.

“I’ve never seen a straret like that!” the Narilian said, smiling at the little creature.

“It’s like an animal we have on Earth,” Keith explained, glancing at the kitten. “My…friend got me it at the markets today.”

The Narilian’s eyes turned just mildly sly, but mostly genuine and open.

“Oh? Is this person… _your_ person?” they asked, stepped a little closer to him.

Keith blinked, confused by the question. “ _My_ person?”

They chuckled, reaching a long finger out for the kitten to sniff. It just so happened that the finger also wrapped in the ends of Keith’s hair.

“I believe the Earthian term would be…your partner? Are you coupled with them?” they asked, carefully arranging their tone.

Keith’s face burned with heat. “Oh-uh, n-no. We’re not…we’re not together.”

The kitten meowed at the change in his tone. The Narilian hummed, eyes crinkling.

“That’s good for me, I suppose,” they said, stepping even closer. Keith was basically enclosed by their antlers.

Keith blinked at them, even more confused. “Why…why would that be good for you?”

The Narilian smiled, as though humored by his questions.

“I see you’re not very good at picking up on subtlety. That’s no issue. I also think there is an Earthian term called ‘flirting’. I’m quite certain that I’m trying to do that.”

Keith’s jaw dropped in shock at the Narilian’s boldness. He could feel Lance’s questioning tendril wrapping around his own.

“Oh…wow, uh, I didn’t…I don’t know,” he stammered, at a loss at what to do.

The Narilian chuckled. “I understand that must be strange, given our different species. But, I am very captivated by your energy.”

There was a loud ‘ahem’ from behind the Narilian, surprising them. They turned around, making Keith have to nearly dive from the stool to avoid being hit by the antlers, quickly scooping up the squealing kitten into his hands.

This gave him the eyeline around the Narilian’s antlers. Lance was standing there, eyes tight and mouth in a smile, but such a performative politeness that looked like he was in customer service.

“Hey there. Mind if I borrow him?” Lance asked, reaching out a hand to Keith. “Got some paladin work to do. You know how it is.”

Keith took the hand, the kitten in his other and Lance pulled him around the antlers.

“Oh, uh, but-,”

Lance didn’t let them finish as he stomped away in the wet puddles and Keith stumbled to keep up. The kitten meowed at him, then meowed at Lance.

“Uh, hey Lance. What-?”

Lance’s energy pulsed with a strange muddy green. He wondered what that meant, as he wasn’t sure what the emotion it was that was being projected to him.

“You okay, samurai?” Lance asked, glancing at him as they slowed down.

“Y-yeah?” he said, just confused as to what just happened.

Lance sighed, leading them over to the edge of the dome and let go of his hand at the trunk of a tree.

“I leave you alone for a tick and the wolves descend,” Lance muttered, sounding irritated.

“The…what?”

Keith tried to understand any of Lance’s projected feelings. There was that dark muddy green, navy, burgundy and purple. It felt like a soup of _‘upset’._

Completely puzzling to Keith.

“That guy was flirting with you, right?” Lance asked, finally turning to him fully. His expression was only casual and tense.

Keith straightened, paying attention to the kitten in his hand again, letting it meow at Lance in his palm. Lance relaxed at the sight, scratching at the kitten’s ears.

“Uh, yeah, as I’m told. Although I don’t think ‘guy’ would be accurate. Genderless aliens, remember?”

“I felt your discomfort,” Lance said, rubbing at his chest with his other hand, as the kitten batted at his fingers.

Keith hummed, getting some of the picture. “I don’t…really understand what you’re feeling though. It’s a lot of colors.”

Lance blinked, then shrugged. “Just wanting to help. Nothing that…weird.”

Keith narrowed his eyes. He looked over Lance’s aura, trying to pull actual emotions from it. Then he realized with the muddy green.

“Oh…oh my gods, you’re jealous!” Keith said, balking.

Lance whipped around, face turning bright red. Suddenly, walls were cutting off Keith from Lance’s emotions.

“I…am not! I-I just didn’t want to _feel_ you all mushy gushy with some hippy tree alien!” he said, scoffing.

Keith frowned, feeling the loss of warmth of Lance’s aura and shivering.

“Hey, stop cutting me off. It makes me feel cold,” Keith said, crossing an arm around his chest.

Lance pursed his lips, then sighed. He opened up again, just enough for some of his feelings to spill over.

“I’m not jealous.”

Keith hummed, then stepped closer to Lance. He looked over in surprise. Keith raised his arm and let the kitten in his palm to step off onto Lance’s shoulder. The kitten mewled at Lance’s face and then carefully moved to kneed on Lance’s hood, then curling up like the hood was a little bed just for it.

“Okay. I totally believe you, sharpshooter. Totally not jealous.”

Lance glared at him. “That’s so low. Using our adorable baby kitten to distract me.”

Keith smirked. “It almost worked.”

They both stared at each other a little longer, then descended into deep chuckles. Their auras churned back to their usual colors, just slightly more muddied and darker.

“So you’re really okay? They didn’t bother you?” Lance asked, picking up two glasses of drinks from a nearby table of refreshments.

Keith shrugged. “I was…caught off guard. Didn’t know how to react. How would I look attractive to these people?”

Lance’s mouth twitched. “I guess you would look attractive to anyone.”

Keith scoffed, incredulous. “Yeah right.”

“I don’t know. Maybe it’s that Kogane animal-magnetism. People just can’t resist,” Lance said, smirking.

Keith clicked his tongue, smacking Lance’s arm. The kitten meowed at the movement.

“Aw, baby, I know. Daddy’s mean to us, huh?” Lance said, looking over his shoulder.

“ _Don’t_ call me that,” Keith said, cringing. “Gross.”

Lance laughed.

The festival lasted all night long and by the time they were back at the castle, they were all exhausted.

“I will set us in a pocket of unused space. Get some sleep. We will have a mission in seventeen vargas. This will be a combat mission, so be prepared,” Allura said, waving them off with a yawn. “I will give a briefing when everyone wakes up.”

Lance and Keith groggily made their way to Lance’s room. Keith set down the dozing kitten on a pillow in the nest, then shucked off his shoes.

“Want my jacket?” Lance asked, casually.

Keith felt his heart pick up and his ears turn pink. He hesitated, but knew his feelings were projecting anyway.

“Yes.”

Lance smirked, taking it off and handing it over. Keith put it on and put up the hood.

“I’m going to take a shower. Don’t wait up,” Lance said, patting Keith on his head.

Keith stifled a yawn against his hand and nodded. “Hold on. Gotta brush my teeth and stuff.”

They did their nightly activities in domestic comfort. Keith realized he had his own products just mixed in with Lance’s at this point. He methodically went through his routine, then Lance caught his eye in the mirror.

Their bond translated a soft, warm feeling from both sides, as if they both realized at the same time just how much things had changed in the week they’d been bonded.

Lance slowly smiled at him, aura bright, warm and cheery.

Keith finally realized blue might be his favorite color.

They had slept for only five vargas before they both leapt up at the blaring castle alarms.

“We’re under attack! There’s an intruder in the castle!”

Lance and Keith looked at each other, then Keith immediately looked down at the meowing kitten.

“Stay put, little guy,” he said, taking off Lance’s jacket and wrapping the kitten up.

They ran out, after haphazardly throwing on their shoes and grabbing their bayards. They headed off to the bridge, stumbling in their groggy state.

“Intruder? Galra?” Lance asked, energy pulsing with anxiety.

Keith shook his head. “No idea. We’ll find out.”

The burst onto the bridge, as the rest of the team came in behind them. Allura had all the castle surveillance cameras pulled up.

“Paladins, there’s what seems to be a small cargo ship outside the docking bay. The castle sensors picked up an intruder in the castle.”

Shiro’s brows furrowed. “How’d they get past security?”

Coran shook his head. “They should not have. It’s very concerning.”

Allura waved a hand. “We will deal with all that later. Right now we must find them.”

She typed away, bringing up heat signature sensors. To no avail.

“They aren’t showing up on the sensors correctly. Something’s definitely amiss,” Allura said, nervously.

“We need to go look for ourselves. Split up. Find them,” Shiro said to the team.

Both Lance and Keith’s energies pulsed with even more anxiety at being split up. They glanced at each other and it seemed like Shiro noticed.

“All of you. Split up.”

Keith frowned, but nodded. “Right. Yes, sir.”

They headed out, Lance and Keith giving each other one last glance before running down opposite hallways. Their auras stayed tethered, giving information on which direction they went. Keith felt as Lance took the far ends of the hallways as Keith went towards the docking bay.

Keith stuck to the shadows, transforming his bayard and going for stealth. He strained to hear anything. He ended up catching the sounds of tiny scratches on the ground behind him.

He whipped around, setting into a defensive position, but saw no one. He frowned, then he looked at the ground fully.

The kitten blinked up at him, tail swinging innocently as it meowed.

Keith sighed, shaking his head. “I told you to stay put.”

The kitten blinked at him, then the fur on its back stood up as it sat back on its haunches. It hissed at something behind him.

He whirled around, just as a black flash bounded off the wall next to him and settled to stand across the hall from him, the kitten between them.

The pirate had haphazard brown clothing, long pointy ears that matched its long swishing tail and a mask over their face.

Keith’s terror at the idea of the tiny creature getting hurt surged and the kitten got close to the ground, hissing at the intruder. The alien scoffed at it, Keith nearly scrambling to try and jump in front of it to protect it, when the kitten’s growls got much deeper.

Keith froze at the same time as the pirate, the kitten’s voice growing gravelly and much louder. He blinked at the tiny thing, just as the fur sprouted longer stripes and the tail poofed into a bigger tuft.

He almost fell backwards in alarm as the kitten started to change in front of his eyes.

Paws grew long claws, the spine shooting out and head growing steadily. The growls stayed a pretty deep, guttural noise.

Keith felt the pulls of Lance’s tendrils as his other half of his bond rounded the corner behind Keith, stuttering to a stop at the new sight.

“Woah…” Lance said, gawking.

They both looked at each other, then back at their pet.

Their new pet alien _tiger_ standing between them and danger.

It dug its claws down into the floor, tail flicking back and forth while baring its now razor sharp teeth at the intruder, growling still.

“Uh…nice….kitty?” the intruder croaked, shaking.

Lance carefully walked forward, warily. He gulped.

“Hey, buddy. Still-still on our side?”

The tiger turned around, immediately dropping the intimidation and chirped. Both him and Lance relaxed.

Keith grinned, twirling his sword as the pirate backed away in fear.

“Good kitty,” he said, chuckling. “Do you take commands?”

The tiger lowered its head, chirping again in its new low big cat voice. Keith’s excitement and pride grew ten-fold. He didn’t even need to look as he felt Lance settle back with his gun to cover his back.

“Good. Now attack.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> baby!!!


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team gets Suspicious and Shiro continues to intervene

“That was so awesome!” Lance said, grabbing Keith’s arm and dropping to the ground, reaching for the giant alien cat. “Who’s a good kitty?”

The tiger chirped, licking his fingers and Keith grinned, kneeling to accept the tiger nuzzling into his arms. He scratched behind the tiger’s ears and the tail flicked back and forth happily.

“A companion that is what I need? I guess this fits the bill,” Keith said, chuckling.

Lance looked behind to see all the team congregated in the hallway. All eyes were wide and blinking. He pointed to the shivering, terrified pirate tied up against the wall, wide eyes staring at the giant tiger.

“We got him!” Lance said, proudly. “And our little baby had a little secret!”

The tiger let out a low mewl, sitting on its haunches. The team all approached, cautiously.

“He’s…still safe, right?” Pidge asked, wary.

Keith nodded, patting the tiger’s head. “It’s okay now. You can transform back.”

The tiger chirped, then stepped back, shuddering. They all watched as the giant cat shook and changed back to its former baby kitten self. The baby smacked its lips after the change, then meowed in its tiny baby voice.

“Gods, I am so good at gift-giving, huh?” Lance said, nudging Keith’s shoulder.

Their auras jumped around each other excitedly. Keith rolled his eyes at him, scooping up the kitten to sit on his shoulder again.

“You didn’t know about this. Just luck,” Keith said, teasing at him.

Lance shrugged. “Fair enough. And your gift was really good, too.”

“ _He_ got you a gift, too?” Hunk asked, curiously.

They both froze, not meaning to say all that in front of them. Lance laughed, nervously.

“Oh, well…” he said, shrugging.

Shiro’s critical eye kept on them, tense. Lance couldn’t help but look away.

They all moved the pirate down to the holding cells. The cargo ship already abandoned their compatriot, Lance almost pitying the guy after hearing that. Hunk kept giving him strange looks, same as Shiro.

“You know, I think I’m going to make some space coffee. We have to stay up so as not to get caught off guard by some pirate reinforcements. Lance, why don’t you come help?” Hunk said, pulling Lance along.

“Uh, I don’t…” Lance tried to argue, but Hunk gave him a look.

“I’ll come too. Need some caffeine,” Pidge said, following along. Her eyes conveyed she was just wanting to ask hard questions.

Keith looked like he was about to follow and Lance felt the shift in energy. Shiro grabbed Keith’s shoulder (the one without the kitten) and kept him rooted.

“We need to talk,” Shiro said, firm.

Keith looked up at him in surprise, then frowned at the tone. Lance reached out a tendril to reassure him and then let Hunk pull him along. It took a tick to realize that Keith let the kitten on the ground, probably muttering to it to follow after Lance.

Lance bent and scooped up the baby and it meowed at him. He smiled at it, as it licked his hand.

Both Hunk and Pidge watched him, critically.

In the kitchen, Hunk pressed some buttons on the Altean coffee machine, adding the space coffee grounds. Lance set the kitten on the island, sitting at the counter and playing with the baby, avoiding the curious eyes.

“So, are you _really_ going to tell us what’s going on?” Hunk asked, finally.

Lance sighed, closing his eyes. He felt the edges of Keith’s anxiety too, probably getting the similar treatment from Shiro.

“What do you mean? Nothing’s going on,” Lance said, as the kitten meowed at him again.

“Lance, you got _Keith_ a baby _kitten._ He apparently got you something, too?” Pidge asked, waving her arms in the air at the tiny creature in front of him. “And he _likes_ the baby kitten? It’s weird, dude. Hella weird.”

Hunk set a freshly brewed space coffee in front of him. He gave Lance a curious expression.

“Are you really not dating Keith? It’s fine if you are. In fact, it’d be really…good. I’d be happy for you.”

Lance clicked his tongue. “I’m _not_ dating Keith.”

Pidge scoffed, sitting at the counter next to him, incredulous look at the kitten who took a few steps over to her.

“Well, here’s a question. If you’re _not_ dating Keith, are you _trying_ to?” she asked, setting her head on her fist, elbow on the counter.

Lance looked at her, flushing on the cheeks and ears.

“Uh, oh not, no I…that’s not…well, I mean I don’t _think_ I….”

Both Hunk and Pidge gave him a look, unimpressed. He groaned, hands coming up over his face in stress.

“I totally am, aren’t I? I’m trying to like… _court_ the guy. Like he’s some…maiden!”

Hunk smirked, pushing the coffee closer. “At least you’re finally coming around to admitting it. And even though all of us would have told you this stuff wouldn’t work on Keith before, honestly it seems like you’re doing extraordinarily well.”

Lance took the coffee, sipping. He almost preferred space coffee to ordinary coffee, seeing as the caffeine was twice as much as Earth coffee and had a much sweeter brew without even needing sugar.

“Yeah, I mean. I haven’t seen Keith so…soft and sweet. It’s almost unnerving,” Pidge said, shivering. “The kitten? Completely strange.”

Lance huffed, rolling his eyes. “He’s always been soft and sweet. Just no one’s given him the time of day to actually let him _be_ that way.”

“See? Since when did you say stuff like that about _Keith?_ It’s weird, dude,” she said, frowning.

“I _think_ what Pidge is meaning to say is that there’s obviously something else going on here,” Hunk said, crossing his arms on the counter.

He looked down, smiling in delight as the kitten scrambled to bat at his arms.

Lance felt through the bond, to see how Keith was feeling. He cringed as it was obvious Shiro was definitely making Keith nervous and uncomfortable.

He sighed, running a hand across the back of his neck. “There…might be something. But it’s really hard to explain and…Shiro doesn’t want us to say just yet.”

The kitten meowed at him, coming over and raising a paw. Lance chuckled, scratching the baby on the head behind the ears.

“So Shiro knows whatever it is?” Pidge asked, intrigued. “And it’s something that we’ll find out eventually?”

Lance nodded. “Yeah. At least…probably. And really, it’s not weird. I promise.”

He paused for a moment, actually thinking it over.

“Okay, I might be a _little_ weird, but it’s not like… _that_ kind of weird.”

“So you’re _not_ secretly sucking each other’s-,” Pidge said, unbelievingly.

“No! We’re not-ugh, no.”

He pushed her as she raised her arms.

“Okay, alright. Fine.”

“And can you please just…let us figure it out? Keith’s already under enough pressure from Shiro. He doesn’t need everyone breathing down our necks,” Lance said, frowning as he felt another pulse of anxiety from Keith.

Hunk nodded, relenting. “Fine. But, what are you going to do about how you feel about him? You’ve been spending some much time around each other, you must be having a really hard time keeping it quiet.”

 _You have no idea,_ he thought, carefully arranging his feelings so that he held his mushier ones close to his chest and only the general warmth and fondness be translated through the bond.

“I-I don’t know just yet. Keith is still just getting used to us being closer friends. I don’t want to be another source of anxiety, you know?” Lance said, trying to explain.

“Do you think he feels the same?” Pidge asked, curiously.

Lance gnawed on his lower lip. He had generally avoided that idea, not wanting to get too tempted to try and exploit the bond so that he could analyze what Keith felt for him.

“May…be?” he said, tilting his head. “But it’s all kind of hard to distinguish.”

Hunk hummed, then gave him a towel and vitamin juice from a cabinet. Lance gave him a questioning look.

“If Shiro’s been giving him a hard time, he’ll probably be on the training deck. Go check on him.”

Lance felt through the bond, noticing a more exhausted and irritated tinge from Keith. He realized Hunk might have been right.

“Thanks, bud.”

He picked up the kitten, cradling it to his chest and carrying the other things in his other hand. He headed out to see what Keith felt like. He sent a question through the bond, wondering if maybe he really wanted to be alone.

The training deck had the usual sounds of Keith going at it.

Lance sighed, opening the door, just as Keith shut off the training exercise.

Keith was breathing hard, hair up and shirt thrown off to the side. He looked behind, then relaxed at seeing what Lance brought.

“Doing okay, samurai?” Lance asked, gently.

Their energies carefully searched through each other. Lance recognized a tension and hesitation from Keith. He wasn’t sure what to make of it.

Keith sat down heavily on the edge of the platform and Lance sat next to him, placing the towel on Keith’s head.

“He gave you a hard time?” Lance asked, letting the kitten go on the platform.

It meowed up at Keith, batting at his hand. He scratched under the kitten’s head absently.

“He said…” Keith said, after a long pause. “He said that you were distracting me. That the bond was making me confused. That you cloud my judgement.”

Lance nodded, pretty much expecting that.

“What did Hunk and Pidge want?”

He clicked his tongue. “To butt in. Like always. Why can’t people just leave us alone?”

Keith glanced at him, wiping at his face and neck with the towel. Lance had been so distracted with Keith’s feelings that he didn’t even really notice the sweaty, shirtless Keith that he was looking at. He felt a surge of heat in the pit of his stomach and he looked away, clearing his throat.

“Shiro…what if he’s right? What if-what if the bond just confuses us?” Keith asked, emotions rolling with anxiety and insecurity.

Lance tried not to get angry at that, knowing that it’d make things worse. He took a long deep breath, settling gentle fingers on the kitten’s back. It chirped in surprise, then preened.

“Do you feel confused? How would we know?” Lance asked.

Keith grimaced. “I don’t know. I guess I’m confused about being confused.”

Lance rubbed at his temples. “This is why people should just leave us alone. It’s making this way more complicated than it needs to be.”

“And it’s not complicated already?” Keith asked, dead pan.

Lance pushed the vitamin pouch into Keith’s hand. “Drink. I feel your exhaustion. It’s making me dizzy.”

Keith took it without argument. The kitten crawled up onto Keith’s lap, stumbling over his legs adorably.

“So what do you want to do?” Lance asked, reluctantly.

“This entire time, you’ve only been asking me. What do _you_ want to do?”

He turned in surprise, just as Keith settled a gentle smile on him.

“Don’t you want to just listen to Shiro?”

Keith shrugged. “That’s what feels like the _reasonable_ part of my brain is saying. But honestly, the reasonable part of my brain doesn’t seem to include you just yet. And the emotional, intense part of my brain is currently the loudest.”

Lance chuckled. “Well, good. Reasonable is overrated.”

Keith bumped his shoulder. “So. What do you want to do?”

He paused for a while. “I think I want to tell the others. They’re…kind of under the impression that we’re actually just sleeping together.”

Keith froze in shock, then his entire aura turned bright magenta. He turned so fast the kitten meowed in indignation.

“Wha-what? Did you-did you _say…?”_

“No!” he said, quickly. “I kept denying it! But I don’t think they were completely convinced.”

Keith groaned, fingers curling into his hair. “That’s just great. Awesome.”

“It’s not that big of a deal, dude. I mean…maybe it’s a little more of a deal than just usual stuff,” Lance said, frowning.

“Not that big of a deal? Our friends think we’re…gods, no wonder Pidge has been giving us that look,” Keith said, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“Which is _why_ I think we should come clean. Half the complications are coming from keeping it secret. The other half…”

“Being Shiro,” Keith supplied.

“Will have to get over it then. So far he’s been the only one able to put his input. Which makes it so that he’s just judging us constantly. If others could see what’s going on, he may be outvoted on whether or not its weird,” Lance finished, shrugging.

“And what if he’s not the one outvoted, but we are?”

Lance hummed. “What are they going to do, huh? It’s not like they can stop the bond.”

“They can…keep us separated,” Keith said, quietly.

Lance froze, winded. “Wait…what? They-they wouldn’t…”

Keith gave him a look, as if he was genuinely pained. Lance then really understood.

“Shiro. He told you to stay away from me. That’s what really happened, isn’t it?” Lance asked, grabbing his shoulder.

His aura churned and Lance knew he was right on the money.

“Lance, I don’t know what to do…Shiro is my brother. I can’t….”

He moved his hand to clutch at Keith’s elbow, to tether him physically. Like if Lance melded himself to Keith then no one could come between them.

“You don’t have to always listen to him. He doesn’t always know the best thing to do. This has nothing to do with-with Voltron or the team. This isn’t something he can order us to stop doing. This is just between you and me, right? Why does it matter what anyone else says?” Lance said, bordering on desperate.

Keith sighed, looking up at him with another pained expression. He wrapped up Lance’s hand in his own.

“Maybe…maybe he’s right. Maybe we should…keep some distance. Get-get our heads on straight. Then we can come clean,” Keith said, looking down at the kitten and then scooting away from Lance.

Lance’s heart plummeted and he felt as Keith felt just as horrible.

“But…I really don’t want to. This…what we’ve got going on is really….” Lance said, letting out a shuddering breath.

Keith gave him a sad smile. “Yeah. It is. But, this is just for a little bit. And once Shiro is satisfied, then we can…just say screw it. Do whatever we want.”

Lance sighed, watching as the kitten scrambled to pad over to him, probably feeling how sad Lance was.

“What about him? We haven’t even named him…”

“I think I’ve got a name,” he said, mouth twitching. “My dad’s middle name. Akira.”

Lance felt as Keith’s tendrils felt sad, bittersweet and nostalgic. Lance reached a careful hand over, as Keith watched. He wrapped up a fingerless gloved hand and squeezed.

“That’s a great name.”

Akira meowed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, i still love Shiro, I just wish there were more points that the show would give him actual flaws, rather than just use him as a continuous plot device. And his PTSD isn't a flaw, like hello?? Trauma isn't a flaw????   
> So, I'm just giving this ways to show him making mistakes because he's still human


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Distance makes the heart grow colder for these two...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, i had to add a little dash of angst before they really REALLY bonded, ya know?

Keith was cold in his room.

It was an entire week of ‘keeping distance’ from Lance. Through their bond, they felt for each other constantly, checking up and such. And they would switch off on sending over Akira to each other when the other was sad or upset. The little kitten was getting very good at finding the two of them.

They would text on their communicators late at night, whenever one had a nightmare and the other felt it.

So, pretty much every night.

And Keith had spent nearly every minute not on a mission or in a briefing on the training deck, working out his frustration.

He walked in the kitchen after a three varga session on a level nearly twice his usual. He took a hard beating, already feeling the bruises on his back and knees. Lance sat at the table, tense.

He was alone.

Keith contemplated going back out, but knew he was going to keel over without some food so he wordlessly went to get him a bowl of food goo. He set Akira on the table near Lance and let the boy accept the kitten’s greeting meow with a scratching on the head.

“I felt all your hits you know. The edges of them. You need to stop going at it so hard. You must be covered in bruises under your…”

Lance narrowed in on Keith’s clothes, seemingly realizing where that train of thought was going. Keith felt a swoop of embarrassment that could have been from either him or Lance.

“Sorry. For…for hurting you,” Keith said, quietly as he sat across from Lance. “I didn’t mean to. I try to keep it from you.”

Lance gave him a sad look and Keith could feel the taste of salty tears and the smell of comfort food. Chocolate.

He’d been crying.

Keith’s own lip quivered and he covered it with a hand.

“I’m…really sorry.”

Lance shook his head. “It’s not your fault. It’s okay.”

“It is my fault though. If I just…stood up to Shiro. If I-,”

The door opened, making them both jump in alarm and turn back to their bowls.

Hunk and Pidge went quiet at the vibe in the room, stuttering to a stop.

Keith quickly picked up his bowl and turned, heading out. Pidge stepped in front of him, crossing her arms.

“ _What_ is going on?”

“It’s okay, Pidge. Let him go,” Lance spoke up, sending reassurance through the bond.

Keith glanced at him, sending another apology. Lance smiled at him a little.

“Take care of your bumps and bruises, alright?”

Keith nodded at him.

A few days later, he snapped like a twig.

He was in the training room again.

“Akira. Transform,” he commanded, firm.

The kitten got up from his little nest in the corner and changed midair, faster than ever before. His giant tiger form leapt in front of Keith, who stayed down in his defensive form.

“Go for the leg,” he said, wanting to practice Akira holding back.

The tiger growled and took the gladiator by the leg, Keith stepping in, sword catching the staff before it struck his cat. He twirled it out of its hand, then stabbed it through the chest.

He panted as Akira lulled his tongue and smacked his lips.

“Good kitty. Come here,” he said, kneeling down and deactivating his bayard.

Akira chirped and stepped into his arms, purring.

“That is pretty useful, huh?”

He sighed, scratching behind Akira’s ears and not even looking behind him.

“What do you want, Shiro?” he asked, irritated.

Lance sent him an encouraging tendril. He smiled to himself, as Lance had always been able to immediately sense when something was off with their bond.

“Kiddo…”

Keith rolled his eyes, standing up and turning around. Shiro stood at the door, looking concerned. A towel and vitamin pouch, of course.

“Save it. I’m over the ‘let’s care about Keith’ routine. I just want to be left alone. I thought you’d be happy that I’m doing exactly what I’ve always done. Since you don’t seem to want me to change. You always want me clamming up and not letting anyone in.”

Shiro sighed, exasperated. “Keith, that isn’t what I want for you and you know it.”

“Oh, do I know it?” Keith fired back, intensely. “Well then you would actually trust me. To know my own head. Since you seem to expect me to know yours.”

Akira picked up on his hostility towards Shiro and actually sent the man a low growl. Shiro reeled back in alarm and Keith was quick to shush him.

“I…Kiddo, I’m sorry. Maybe I was harsh. Maybe I didn’t…really take your perspective into account. This last week, you and Lance have been so…” Shiro said, grimacing.

“Yeah. Yeah, me and Lance have been _so._ And whose fault could that be?” Keith said, glaring at him.

Shiro gave him a look. Keith looked away, crossing his arms.

“I just…Shiro, whatever is going on between me and Lance? Its between us. And I’m…” he realized what exactly he wanted to do. “I’m going to do whatever the hell I want now. So back off.”

He called to Akira and pushed past Shiro without another word, determined in his stride, following Lance’s tendrils. Lance seemed to figure something had changed because the emotions were more confused and curious.

Keith grinned.

He opened Lance’s door without even knocking.

Lance was sitting on the bed, obviously immediately after a shower. He only had on his jeans and he stood up at the entrance, brows furrowed.

“Wha-Keith? What happened?”

He didn’t waste another tick and just quickly swept Lance up in a hug.

It was as though their auras exploded.

A kaleidoscope of colors erupted from their chests and both of them shuddered with the intensity, backing away and breathing heavily at each other’s shocked expressions.

“Woah…” they said in unison.

Keith couldn’t help but look at Lance’s lips. He let out a sharp breath, wondering what it’d feel like to kiss him.

Akira chirped at them from the ground, still in tiger form.

They startled apart. Keith sighed and then couldn’t help but feel like a huge weight lifted from his chest as he looked back at Lance, shyly.

Lance gave him a small smile. He reached out a hand.

“Come. Tell me everything. We’ve got loads to catch up on.”

They settled on the tiny twin bed, Keith against the wall of the end, Lance against the headboard and pillows. They entangled their legs and Akira sat at the opening, flicking his tail back and forth.

“I’m not letting Shiro tell either of us shit anymore. I’m over it.”

Lance’s eyebrows went to the sky, then he slowly relaxed.

“Oh thank gods. I couldn’t take any more of your self-pitying sessions. All those bruises. By the way, strip off your shirt.”

Keith blinked in stupor. “Come again?”

Lance gestured with a finger, completely serious. “Go on.”

Keith felt himself warm from the top of his head to his toes. He slowly pulled his sweaty shirt over his head, Lance immediately turning a critical eye on his torso.

“Jesus, Keith…”

He looked down at all the black, blue, green and even some yellow bruises all over his ribs, chest and shoulders. Lance reached a hand forward, fingers grazing over the worst. Keith’s nerve endings electrified and Lance froze, eyes flicking up to Keith’s face.

“Is this…is this okay?” Lance asked, quietly.

Keith nodded, hand coming up to cover over Lance’s gently. Both of their breathing deepened and Lance sucked in a bottom lip. Keith’s heart sped up and he vaguely wondered if he should bring up his walls so that Lance wouldn’t be able to feel just how hard Keith was crushing on Lance at this point.

“Are you in a lot of pain?” he asked, leaning forward a little.

“No. Just sort of sore,” Keith said, shrugging.

Lance’s wrist turned, fingers stroking over Keith’s ribs on his side.

Akira decided that was the best time to let out a loud meow, which made both of them jump out of their concentration.

Keith let out a breathy ‘ha’, then they looked at each other and descended into soft chuckles. It broke the tension that had built up around them, letting them relax.

“Did you say something to Shiro?” Lance asked, leaning so close that they were only maybe six inches apart.

Keith shrugged. “Something about him needing to back off…that I know my own head…something, something. Nothing you need to worry about. But, now we do it your way. I say we tell the rest of the team.”

Lance grinned, energy pulsing with excitement and relief. “Really?”

Keith nodded, then looked over as Akira set a giant paw on the bed with a pitiful meow. Lance clicked his tongue.

“Aw, baby, did Keith not give you any attention?” he said, pouting dramatically. “Oh, you and me both. Come on, transform and cuddle with us.”

Akira did just that, now his little legs patting over the bed, then batting at the folds.

“I say after all this, we both need a nap,” Lance said, going to stand up. “I’ll get the blankets and pillows to make a nest again.”

Keith stopped him with a hand. “Wait, uh…”

Lance stalled, suddenly nervous. “Oh, you-you don’t want to stay? I get it, no worries…”

“No, no it’s not that,” he said, quickly. “I was just going to say that uh, it’d be fine if we just…shared the bed, right?”

Lance blinked, energy pulsing with new, different anxiety. The kind that made Keith blush.

“Oh, yeah!” he said, mouth twitching into a smile. “Yeah, we could…totally do that.”

Keith moved so that he laid back against the pillows on Lance’s side, settling Akira on his chest. With the tiny twin bed, they were forced to have Lance turn on his side to face Keith and one of Keith’s legs nearly didn’t fit.

“Uh, heads up, like I’m a notorious cuddle fiend. More than likely this will end up with me sprawled on top of you in less than a tick,” Lance said, laughing nervously.

Keith chuckled. “Good. Need to make up for all the time apart. The tension headache may finally go away.”

Lance blinked his sparkly blue eyes at him, then grinned his gorgeous thousand-watt smile.

Keith _loved_ the color blue.

“We need to tell you guys something.”

Keith was determined and firm from his spot next to Lance. He crossed his arms and levelled a gaze on Shiro, who’s eyebrow twitched.

Coran looked overjoyed, smiling and giving them two thumbs up from the corner.

Allura, Hunk and Pidge all looked quite relieved that they were finally coming clean about whatever it was that was happening.

He hoped that Allura knew enough about bonds to understand what he and Lance were going to try and convey.

“Uh, so me and Keith. Remember a few weeks ago we had that really intense mind-meld exercise?” Lance said, nervously fidgeting with his hands.

Lance’s aura was pulsing over and over around like a whirlpool. Keith felt the edges of anxiety and the smell of burnt rubber.

_ADHD. He needs something to stim with._

Wordlessly he pulled his hair out of its ponytail, sneaking the stretchy band into Lance’s twitching fingers. Lance blinked at him, then gave him the softest fond look ever. It made Keith go pink at the ears.

“Yeah? Kind of?” Pidge said, bringing them back to their very important announcement.

“Well, something kind of happened with that,” Keith said, vaguely. “Somehow at some point it…opened up a connection between Lance’s mind and mine.”

Coran stepped forward, when it was obvious that Allura still wasn’t understanding.

“Princess, they have a soul bond,” he said, gently.

She looked at the man, shocked, then back to the paladins. Her eyes were wide and her mouth gape.

“You mean…like an Altean quintessence bond? How-that should be _impossible,”_ she said, winded.

Hunk and Pidge still looked confused.

“Hi, uh, hello?” Pidge said, raising her hand. “Yeah, still have no clue what any of that meant.”

“Me and Keith can…uh, I guess sort of… _feel_ each other’s emotions?” Lance said, gesturing vaguely. “We can also communicate on a lower level in our heads. Show each other memories…that kind of stuff.”

Hunk blinked, dumbstruck. “I’m sorry, _what?_ You can…. _read each other’s minds?”_

“Not exactly, but kind of?” Keith said, shrugging. “It’s hard to describe to someone who has never had it happen to them before.”

Pidge flicked up her glasses, pinching at the bridge of her nose. “Okay. Honestly? I had many, _many_ theories as to what the…weirdness was between you two, but this? Yeah, can’t really say I saw this one coming.”

Lance laughed nervously. “Well, uh, before anyone asks, one: no, we don’t really know why it happened, apparently no one with bonds really do. And two: yes, it’s permanent. We can’t really stop it.”

“And we…really don’t want to,” Keith added, looking to Lance to make sure. “It’s actually….really nice for us.”

Shiro looked away out the window into space at that, indescribable expression painting over his face.

“So, this whole time. Like for three weeks? You’ve been talking in each other’s heads?” Hunk asked, still completely floored.

Lance shrugged. “I mean, I guess in layman’s terms, yeah?”

“Oh my,” Allura said, emotional. “I…could never have imagined this could happen. Have…has this really been as remarkable for you as I’ve read?”

Lance softened at her tone of voice and nodded. “That remarkable and more.”

Keith’s mouth twitched into a smile.

“Okay, so this bond, apparently _you_ both know all about it?” Pidge asked, pointing to the Alteans. “What’s up with that?”

Coran took over much of the explanation after that. He brought up diagrams and pictures and sacred texts. He went over the alchemy and Voltron’s dynamics and even went into the connections of other species. He talked about how bonds are different for everyone and not a single bond is the same as another. He talked about how some people had platonic, familial or romantic bonds. That some people changed the nature of their bond over time.

This made both Lance and Keith slow down, taking quick glances at each other.

Keith had been so convinced that their bond was platonic, because they had only started out as friends. But, the idea that the nature of the bond could change over time….

It suggested that at some point it could turn romantic.

And he was actually really, really wanting that to happen.


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pidge has some questions and then Shiro implements a plan...

Lance sat with electrodes to his head, across from Keith, irritated.

“You know, Pidge. We took a huge leap of faith telling you this. I’m not sure I appreciate being treated like lab rats,” he said, as she placed another electrode on his bare chest.

“This is just preliminary tests. We don’t know how this bond interacts with human nervous systems. It might be too overwhelming. Alteans have a way longer and more complicated neural pathway. Our nervous systems are already changed from normal humans with prolonged exposure to Voltron and quintessence fields, but this might still be too much,” she said, flicking his forehead. “And Keith’s Galran genes may change the whole game even still. At some point, it might overpower you.”

Keith’s aura shifted with anxiety at that, which made Pidge’s computer beep and she looked over, then over to Keith.

“Did you do something?” she asked, curious.

“Yeah, you made him all wiggy that he’ll accidentally turn my brain to mush or something,” Lance said, frowning. “And he _won’t.”_

He aimed that last part to Keith, who looked up at him with shy eyes.

“And you felt that?” Pidge asked, incredulous. “That was just a slight raise in heartrate and stress response.”

Keith’s mouth twitched. “He can usually feel the smallest changes in me. It’s harder for me to really understand him sometimes.”

Lance smiled at him, warm. The computer beeped again, Pidge looked over.

“Huh, okay. That was interesting response,” she said, smirking at Lance.

He blushed and rolled his eyes. Another beep on the computer. He glared at the thing. The door opened and Coran came in, bright and sunny. He blinked at the scene he came in to.

“Number 5…what might this be?” he asked, curious.

“Pidge is experimenting on us. Because she doesn’t buy into the psychic bond being safe,” Keith said, blunt as ever.

“Hey, I’m just making sure!”

Lance scoffed. “Yeah right. You’re not at all weirded out by the idea that me and Keith can talk in our heads. Sure.”

Pidge gave him a look, but then looked away. “I’m not…weirded out. I’m just cautious. I’m not like you guys, being able to just…jump into things and be fine with whatever it is.”

Coran walked over, looking at the data and numbers. “Well, I don’t know how this would explain something as deep of a connection as a quintessence soul bond.”

“We tried to tell her, but you know the little gremlin. Can’t keep her from sticking her little gremlin nose into our heads,” Lance said, sighing in exasperation.

Pidge rolled her eyes, typing away on the computer. “Just…let me get this data for a few minutes. Talk to each other. Communicate.”

Lance and Keith shrugged at each other. He gave Keith a tendril with purpose, letting Keith pull at it, then push at it. Pidge quickly started typing as the computer beeped a few times.

“We can do a memory share?” Lance offered, glancing to her.

“Yes. Yes, do that,” she said, waving a hand at him absently.

“Alright, samurai. I’ll go first. Something simple,” he said, quietly.

Keith nodded, closing his eyes. Lance closed his eyes, too. He thought back, wondering what a good memory would be. He then retrieved a memory of his mother.

It had been a simple memory. But, he thought that Keith would appreciate it. He made sure to remember as many details as possible. Let it play out like one of Keith’s memories, one thing after another.

He was maybe eleven or twelve. He came running home, crying as he was dumped by his very first girlfriend of a week.

His lovely, incredible mother accepted him into a hug as he sniffled into her arms.

“ _Mijo,_ what’s wrong?” she asked, concerned.

Lance whimpered, pathetically. “Maria dumped me! And after I gave her my chocolate bunny from Easter!”

With the years from this moment, the present Lance figured that his mother tried to keep from laughing at that point. What she did do, was pat him on the head.

“Oh, baby, I’m sorry. How about I cook you up something special? To cheer you up?” she asked, gently.

Little Lance backed up and nodded, wiping at his eyes with his forearm.

His mother gave him the sweetest, softest smile and put a gentle hand on his cheek.

Present Lance opened his eyes, feeling the bittersweet and nostalgic burst at remembering his mother in such a sweet, gentle way. Keith looked at him, melting into a smile.

“What-woah, what did he show you?” Pidge asked, looking between them.

Keith shook his head a little. “Nope. You can see what our brainwaves do, but you don’t get to know what happens between them.”

Lance grinned. “Yep. So, get good numbers?”

Pidge sighed, crossing her arms. “I got…numbers for sure. And I can…see the changes like what I _think_ is the transferring between you two. Like right there.”

She pointed to a spike in a squiggly line on her holoscreen.

“That’s Lance’s brainwave. I think it’s right when he thought of the memory he sent,” she said. “And then here.”

She pointed below it to another squiggly line. A very similar set of spiking happened.

“That’s Keith. At the exact micro-tick. Which means that on a subconscious level, you saw the exact same thing as Lance. Which, biologically and neurologically, should not be possible.”

All the others in the room looked at each other in exasperation.

“Of course not. But do you think Earth’s human biology textbooks have a chapter on ‘magic quintessence soul bonds’?” Lance asked, smirking.

“But, listen, there’s something more to this,” she said, narrowing her eyes at the screen. “I don’t how to put my finger on it…”

“Number 5, I still don’t know how this would explain a soul bond,” Coran said, shaking his head.

Pidge rolled her eyes, then waved her hand. “Fine. Fine, I get the picture. You all can go now.”

Lance whooped, standing up and taking off all the electrodes. Keith did the same across from him. They gave each other questioning tendrils.

“So now what do you want to do?” Lance asked, as Coran followed them out the door.

Keith hummed. “I don’t know. We don’t have a mission until tomorrow and I’m kind of sick of all these weird looks we’re getting. I think I want to take it easy.”

Akira bounded over as soon as they left the door, apparently waiting for them to be done. Lance grinned and picked up the kitten.

“Hi baby, hi honey!” he said, in a high-pitched voice.

Keith gave him a chuckle, reaching over and scratching the purring kitty on the head. Coran patted them both on the heads.

“I’ll leave you two to bond even more. I’ll just tell you both that I’m quite happy for you. I understand that you aren’t a romantic bond, however a platonic bond is just as fulfilling and loving for almost all bonded pairs. I’m glad that you two have found each other, even if the team doesn’t entirely understand,” he said, giving them a smile.

Lance warmed at that and nodded. He and Keith walked along the hallways, contemplative.

“Well we could-,”

“Lance. Keith.”

They both turned to see Shiro’s now familiar critical eye. Keith tensed and Lance tried to resist the urge to reach down and hold his hand.

“An urgent mission briefing is on the bridge. Come on,” he said, seriously.

Lance also had to resist the urge to sigh. They followed him without argument. The bridge was deathly silent when they walked in.

“Uh, hey. What’s going on?” Lance asked, suspiciously.

Allura gave them a sympathetic smile, then brought up a picture of a bright red planet, with swirling spots and hot gasses. She cleared her throat as Shiro settled with his arms crossed on the platform and gave Allura an important gaze.

“This is an urgent mission that, um. We need to send to a small two paladin team,” she said, looking over nervously to Shiro.

Hunk and Pidge seemed to tense a little at that, looking between them all.

“What’s the mission?” Pidge asked, curiously.

“Standard recon. The team will settle on the moon checking to see what the regular loading schedule with this planet and the Galra. It’s a delicate procedure. This planet emits a regular pulsing energy every fourteen vargas. The only lion that has the hull designed to survive that would be-,” Shiro said, until cut off by Keith.

“Red. The red lion.”

Lance glanced over to him, then turned back to Shiro. Oh. That meant Keith had to go.

“Okay. Me and Keith will go,” Lance said, even as Shiro’s eyes narrowed in on him. “I have…a bond with Red too.”

Allura bit the inside of her lip, glancing to Shiro, who stepped forward.

“The team will be Hunk and Keith,” he said, firm.

Both Hunk and Keith looked up in surprise. Lance felt the sudden change in Keith’s aura, going from bright white shock to rolling sizzling red anger. Lance flinched at the burn at the top of his head.

_This isn’t going to go well._

“What? Why?” Keith asked, angrily. “Lance can go with me.”

“Hunk is perfectly capable as a paladin,” Shiro said, dismissively.

“But-,”

Lance laid a hand on Keith’s shoulder. He sent a purposeful tendril, as if to say: ‘ _Don’t make it worse.’_

“How long?” Lance asked, shortly.

Shiro rolled his eyes. “You can be separated for a week. It won’t kill you.”

“A week?” Both Lance and Keith said together in unison.

Coran, also, looked alarmed by that. He stepped forward, with an imploring look to Allura.

“Princess, Shiro, this, uh, this may put a strain on their newly bonded bodies. I don’t believe this is quite a fully informed plan,” he said, anxiously twirling his mustache. “Most bonds need at least six earth months to fully-,”

“Well, we don’t have six months. This is war,” Shiro said, cutting off anything Allura would have responded with. “They need to learn to be separated as soon as possible. We can’t afford distractions.”

Hunk and Pidge both frowned and looked over as Lance had to hold back Keith from actually pouncing on Shiro. Coran actually stepped back, looking incredibly bothered by Shiro’s response.

“We, uh,” Lance said, nervously distracted by Keith’s overwhelming burning anger. “We need to talk about this. Excuse us.”

Lance pulled Keith out the door and down the hallway, releasing his grip in the lounge area. Keith whirled around, pulsing with rage.

“Let me go back and beat the living-,” Keith growled, fists coming up.

“No. I’m not going to _let_ you do that. Look, we all know what that was about. We all know what this plan is about. But, I don’t think anyone besides Coran would really stick up against it. We’re…sort of on our own here,” Lance said, starting out really strong and then slowly softening. “Keith…you might have to do this.”

His eyes widened. “You’re kidding. This won’t be just on the other side of the castle, Lance. I’ll be on the other side of the _galaxy._ We don’t know what would happen. The bond…we get headaches just shutting it out now!”

Lance grimaced, already imagining how cold he’d be. “I know. But, I don’t think Shiro’s letting up on this one. Just…it’ll probably be okay, right? I mean he is right that it won’t…kill us or anything.”

“I’m over this,” Keith said, grumbling. “I don’t want to let Shiro push us around for something we can’t control. He needs to get over it.”

“I know,” Lance said, again. He walked forward and ran his hands over Keith’s shoulders in comfort. “I know. I’m sorry.”

Keith let out a harsh sigh. “It’s not your fault. I’m sorry for getting so mad. I know you must feel it.”

Lance chuckled, shrugging. “What’s a little Keith anger? Real experienced with that even without the bond.”

“I-,” Keith sighed again. “I don’t want be that far away from you.”

Lance swept him up in a fierce hug. That made him all warm and excited and bouncy inside. Keith held him tight around the middle. Lance turned his head to set their temples together.

“I don’t either. But…we’re professionals, right? Good soldiers. We can…we can survive this,” Lance said, quietly. “No problem for my samurai, right?”

Keith hesitated. “Okay. I’ll go. Keep Akira with you, though. He’ll keep you company.”

Lance smiled an affectionate smile. “Yeah. And don’t be afraid to reach out to Hunk. The guy is a big cuddle bear if you need it. And he likes you.”

They stood hugging for a few more minutes, before Keith’s aura leaked out its red anger and settled into a more sad and melancholy midnight blue.

“Will it always hurt this much?” Keith asked, softly into Lance’s shoulder.

Lance squeezed his eyes shut and his eyes burned. “I hope not. Someday, we can figure out how…to deal with that kind of distance. This is new. It’s really intense right now.”

He stepped back and searched over Keith’s pained face. He slowly reached a hand up and moved Keith’s hair out of his face, tucking it behind his ear. His eyes were wide and bright purple, swimming with emotion and affection. He gave Lance a small smile.

“Let’s go deal with them. Tell them what we decided. Then…then you come back to me, alright?” Lance said, voice cracking a little.

Keith nodded. “I promise.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if you were dying for some angst, the next few chapters are chock full of it


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith leaves and they find out what happens when forced apart

Keith packed for the week-long mission slowly and with every pang in his heart. Lance watched from the bed, playing with Akira half-heartedly.

“Did you remember your toothbrush and stuff?” Lance asked, after some time. “And-and you could take one of my face washes. The most general one.”

Keith’s mouth twitched. “Yeah. I packed the one I use when in your room.”

“And-uh, keep calling, alright? Once a day at least,” he added, sincerely.

“I promise. Don’t worry.”

Their bond swirled between them, full of dark purples and blues, splashes of red and pinks. Akira meowed at Keith, forlorn. As if he could feel how horrible they both felt. Keith sighed at the insistent beeping on his communicator.

“It’s time for you to go, huh?” Lance asked, wide blue eyes looking up at Keith.

He didn’t need any bond to know Lance was resisting the urge to try and keep Keith from leaving. Keith zipped up his duffel bag, with a sigh.

“Yeah. Come see me off?” he asked, softly.

Lance nodded immediately, picking up their baby and standing. Together, they walked down the hallway and their auras churned as deeply and fully as could be, so much that Keith was thinking that he could taste the remnants of Lance’s breakfast that morning. They seemed to be reveling in the other’s energy as much as possible before being separated for that long.

Hunk was already standing next to the red lion, pacing nervously. He perked up when he saw them, relaxing with a sigh.

“I was so worried that you weren’t going to come,” Hunk said, smiling sympathetically. “Wouldn’t have blamed you.”

Keith nodded, knowing what he meant.

“Hey, Lance. You doing okay?” Hunk asked, walking forward and scratching little Akira’s head.

“As okay as I can be right now,” Lance said, quietly.

Hunk nodded, knowing what he meant. There was a general understanding between them what it was all about. What everything was about.

Keith closed his eyes and let the red lion’s energy finally in. He asked her to let Hunk in and then let him and Lance have a moment alone to say goodbye. She rumbled a little, lowering her head and opening her mouth. Hunk turned with surprise.

Keith dropped his bag on the ground and set a gentle hand on Hunk’s shoulder.

“Go ahead without me. I’ll be there in a minute,” he said, gruffly.

Hunk studied him for a tick, then nodded. “For what it’s worth. I hope this goes well.”

Keith nodded, knowing again what he meant. He turned back to Lance after Hunk had ascended up the ramp in Red. He looked down and sucked in a breath when Akira meowed sweetly to him. Lance chuckled, wetly.

“He’s going to miss you, you know,” Lance said, croaking with emotion.

Keith looked up and smiled a little, even as Lance was teary-eyed. Keith reached up and cupped his cheeks, gently wiping away some tears.

“I’ll miss him, too.”

Lance sniffled, then his eyes widened. “Wait. Before you go…”

He quickly put Akira on his head, which made Keith snort, then shrugged out of his jacket. Keith realized the intent through their bond and his ears heated up.

“Take it. It’ll help you sleep,” Lance said, handing over his jacket.

Keith took it, sending immense grateful energy through the bond as he packed it away in his bag.

“Hunk’s going to have a field day with this,” Keith muttered.

Lance giggled a little, sniffling away the last of his crying. “Probably. But now the cat’s out of the bag, you can just tell the truth. We like being around things that remind us of each other. That’s nothing to be embarrassed about. Plus, I’d rather know you were sleeping okay than thinking you were all restless and not taking care of yourself.”

Keith picked Akira off Lance’s head, letting the kitten lick his cheeks a few times in a goodbye.

“Time to go. Already late as it is,” Keith said, reluctantly. “We should…probably let go of the bond earlier so it doesn’t…feel that bad to get that far away.”

Lance took a deep breath, then closed his eyes. Keith did too. They slowly pulled their tendrils apart, settling so that their auras only slightly pulled towards each other. The cold already started to permeate Keith’s skin.

They hugged one more time. Akira stayed perched on Lance’s shoulder the whole time. Then Keith turned and went up the ramp of Red, who greeted him warmly and with strong sympathy. She knew exactly what was going on.

He quickly set his bag down and swiveled down in the pilot’s seat.

“How are you feeling, buddy?” Hunk asked, gently.

Keith was about to snap at him, but then decided against it.

“I’ll tell you when the bond is stretched over lightyears,” Keith mumbled, miserably. “I might die on the spot, though.”

“Wait, really?” Hunk asked, alarmed.

Keith shrugged, then piloted them out. He called up the bridge. Allura and Shiro’s faces pulled up, obviously waiting and ready to yell at them for being late. Well, at least Shiro was.

“Save the lecture. Just give us a wormhole, will you?” Keith said, forceful.

Shiro sighed, then nodded at Allura. She did her usual thing, then a wormhole opened in front of them. Keith finally felt the real anxiety of the idea of being so far from Lance and he had to take a few deep breaths to keep from panicking.

“Be careful and check in,” Shiro said, softening a little.

Keith looked away, as Hunk saluted.

“Right-o, captain!”

“Yeah, whatever. Bye,” Keith muttered.

He cut off the transmission and then gave Hunk an important glance.

“I don’t actually know what will happen once we go through this. If I…I don’t know. If something happens, just keep piloting. Red will let you,” Keith said, nearly shaking with nerves.

Hunk frowned, but nodded anyway. Keith then went through the wormhole. He saw the red planet and narrowed his flight path to the moon that Shiro had shown them. He nervously watched as the lion was entirely on the other side and the wormhole closed.

Red kept a tight hold on his mind as he felt the last strings attaching him and Lance finally _snap._

Keith sucked in a sharp gasp as it felt like his mind tore apart from the inside. His heart stuttered in his chest and he felt sharp, bone-chilling icy pain erupt from the top of his head down to deep in his sternum.

“Are you okay? Are you hurting?” Hunk asked, anxiously.

Keith grabbed at his head with a hand, squeezing his eyes shut. He desperately felt as though he wanted to burst into tears and crawl into a hole. He bent forward over the controls, letting out a pathetic whimper. He was shaking, trembling so hard that the seat underneath him started to rattle.

“Oh my gods, Keith!” Hunk said, grabbing at his shoulder. Keith startled at the contact and he immediately stepped back. “Sorry, sorry…what’s-what do I do?”

Keith shook his head. “Just-just hold on a tick. Let me-let me just-,”

His voice barely registered as his own. It felt like trying to talk underwater. He opened his eyes, then truly panicked.

His entire world had turned black and white.

He panted at the sight of just muted, dull grey and dark blacks. His chest felt like someone had taken an ice cream scooper and gauged out his insides. He was trembling again, this time at the bone-deep chill.

“Jesus, Keith. You look-you’re so pale and you’re sweating bullets. Do you need me to take over?” Hunk asked, hurriedly looking between Keith and the planet. “And…oh my gods….Keith, your-your eyes…they’re….”

_Calm down. Focus._

Keith took long deep breaths, trying to quell the shaking. It helped marginally, so he was able to settle on the far side of the moon. Red was purring over his now cold, chilly mind.

“I’m okay,” Keith wheezed out, shivering. “It’s just…cold without him.”

Hunk’s mouth worked over his teeth, like he wasn’t sure how to react to that.

“Your eyes…they lost their color,” Hunk said, cryptically.

Keith looked at him in shock. “How-what-?”

“They’re all…clouded and grey. They’re not purple anymore,” he explained, horrified. “Gods, we should probably get you back. I can’t…this should not be good for either of you!”

Keith absorbed that new information, shocked. Then he shook his head.

“I’m fine. I’m…moving and breathing just fine. I’m fine,” he said, still barely able to keep his head on straight. “Let’s do the mission. No one…nothing needs to be done…”

He didn’t want to give Shiro the satisfaction of knowing they couldn’t deal with the separation. Hunk still looked like he wanted to resist.

“Please. Let’s just…do the mission. Focus.”

“Okay…if you insist…here. Take a break. Go in the back. I’ll take the lead,” Hunk offered, gently. “You look like you’re really upset. Just until we need to get the recon going. The convoy won’t come for another three vargas.”

Keith almost resisted, but he was exhausted by the change. He nodded, still thrown by the loss of color in his vision. He desperately wanted to see Hunk’s yellow again. He swiveled in the chair and stood up slowly, holding his head.

Hunk watched him carefully, but let him go in the back and he lowered himself to the ground next to his bag. He fished out Lance’s jacket immediately, closing his now horrifying eyes and clutching the jacket to his face, inhaling Lance’s scent.

Blue flitted through his mind’s eye and it calmed him a little.

He hoped Lance was okay.

Lance felt the tendrils snap as soon as the wormhole closed. He let out a cry, falling to his knees and holding his head. Akira fell from his shoulder, scrambling to stand on the ground and started meowing over and over again.

He heard the door open behind him, the sounds of someone immediately coming in and dropping to the ground next to him. Lance panted as the loss of Keith made him lose any semblance of real joy or happiness.

“Lance, my boy, how are you doing? I was waiting for you outside the door, but I heard you cry out,” Coran said, concerned.

Lance shook his head, face crumpling as he couldn’t keep the tears in. He sobbed at the cold, harsh loss of Keith. His hands squeezed against his head and he trembled.

“Oh, I knew this was going to be too stressful for you both. I’m so sorry, I shouldn’t have let this happen. I’m going straight to Shiro and the princess and get Keith to come back to you,” he said, about to stand back up and run.

Lance grabbed his hand, keeping him from moving.

“N-no…” he wheezed out, still sobbing uncontrollably. “No. Keith…no…”

He slowly opened his eyes, blinking. He squinted as something seemed to be really, really wrong. He whimpered, whipping his head around, trying desperately to see correctly again.

He lost Keith’s warmth and colors altogether.

“I…I can’t see any color…” Lance whispered, horrified. “Oh my…oh my gods, Coran! I can’t…there’s not color anymore!”

Coran’s expression crumbled and he searched over Lance’s eyes.

“Lance…my boy…your eyes. They’re…clouded. They’re not blue anymore,” he breathed out, mystified.

Whatever was left of Lance’s heart fell through his stomach and he hyperventilated in panic.

Keith’s absence in his head really did leave him with his soul ripped in half.

“Has this ever happened? What’s-what do I do?” Lance asked, voice barely working right.

Coran shook his head. “Maybe humans have a stronger reaction. Alteans that had been separated only generally felt the loss. This is…quite extreme. I’m going to make this right. I won’t leave it this way.”

Lance sniffled and he let out a few more breaths to calm himself. “No…no I won’t….Shiro’s only doing this to prove we can’t handle this. We don’t know what he’ll demand if we show him this is so…no, just…let me go. I’ll stay out of everyone’s way. No one will know how bad it is.”

“My boy, this is going to last a full Earth week. There’s no way you can avoid everyone that entire time,” he said, incredulous.

Lance grasped at the man’s arms, pleading. “Please. Don’t…don’t tell them. Don’t let them know. I’ll figure it out.”

Coran relented and Lance slowly stumbled back to his room, cradling Akira to his chest. The kitten kept meowing, concerned.

He ran into Pidge and Allura in front of his room, both pacing. He stopped, then looked at the kitten in his hands, hoping that they wouldn’t notice anything wrong. The view of the completely colorless image of his friends made him want to sob so loud that Keith would hear from lightyears away.

“What are you guys doing?” he asked, quietly.

Allura surged forward, reaching for him. “Oh, Lance. We wanted to make sure everything was okay. Are you-uh, are you alright?”

Lance nodded, still not looking at them. “I just want to be alone for a while, okay? Get used to the feeling.”

“What’s going on? You’re all shaking and pale,” Pidge said, shocked.

“Just…will you please leave me alone?” Lance insisted, more forceful this time.

“We’ll leave you alone, Lance. You need to adjust.”

Lance physically flinched at the sound of Shiro behind him. He glanced over his shoulder, still with his eyes hooded.

“Don’t talk to me!” he snapped at the man, miserable.

Akira meowed at his tone, turning to hiss at Shiro menacingly over his shoulder. Lance quieted him, without an ounce of guilt.

Shiro seemed to stalk towards him, as Akira fidgeted. Lance bent and released him onto the ground.

“Transform,” he muttered to the kitten.

The now fully formed tiger at his side, his team all stood in place. Allura and Pidge looked like their own hearts broke at his and his tiger’s hostility.

“Lance! This is immature behavior,” Shiro said, disappointed. “I understand that you must be feeling…a loss of some sort, but that is no excuse-,”

“I _said_ don’t fucking talk to me,” Lance growled, turning around and glaring at Shiro.

Shiro was about to argue back, when he gasped. “Oh gods…Lance, your…your eyes…”

“Yeah. Now leave me alone, will you?” he said, shoving past everyone and opening his door. “Akira…come.”

The tiger followed, still growling in warning to anyone thinking of not doing as Lance said. Everyone stood silent as Lance shut and manually locked the door.

His lip quivered at the sight of all the Keith items around the room. He slowly slid down against the door, curling up in misery. He wrapped his head up on his knees and squeezed his eyes shut. Akira chirped, pawing at his leg.

Lance sobbed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lmao please yell at me in the comments. my favorite comments have always been the reactions to angst...


	17. Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Living in the black and white

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YO the engagement was awesome on the last chapter it made me feel all nice and fuzzy inside so thanks for all the comments!!

Lance wouldn’t move from his bed. He didn’t want to eat. Or sleep.

He just cried and snuggled Akira’s tiger form tightly. The tiger seemed to be fine with the arrangement, obviously noticing how horrible Lance was feeling.

He shivered again, Akira waking and then licking at his salty tears.

“Baby…it hurts so bad without him…I didn’t think anything could hurt this much…” Lance whispered, miserably.

Akira purred in comfort, nuzzling his face. Lance appreciated the effort, but still hated the fact the entire cat was just grey to him. He sniffled, pathetically.

Lance sighed at a soft knock at the door. He tried to ignore, but the knock insisted.

“Lance…my boy…you need to eat. Keep up your strength,” Coran said, gently.

He slowly sat up and Akira moved to the ground, growling at the door. He shushed the guard tiger, then got to the door. He covered his eyes with his hand, opening the door.

“Lance-oh, Lance, my boy you…you don’t need to-,”

“Just give me the food, will you?” Lance asked, voice croaky and unused for the day.

Coran audibly sighed and then slowly picked up Lance’s other hand and set a bowl in it.

“Lance…” Allura’s voice came into the picture. He tensed at the sudden introduction. “We…Pidge and I, I mean…we wanted to invite you to a girls’ night. We thought you might enjoy some relaxation time. We have face masks and nail polish and very sweet sugary snacks. You can bring Akira, if you wish.”

“It’s in Allura’s room. Four vargas,” Pidge’s voice also added into the mix. “Come.”

Lance’s head lowered, not wanting to at all.

“Please?” Pidge asked, softer this time. “It makes me nauseous to think of your future complaining of your skin if you don’t take care of it.”

His mouth twitched just a little. “Maybe. I’ll…think about it.”

Allura seemed to let out a relieved breath. They left him alone again and he closed the door behind him. He opened his eyes slowly, taking in the still colorless world. His lips quivered in misery.

Akira chirped and he sighed. “Sorry for all the wallowing, baby. You must be so over it.”

He settled back on the bed, picking at the food goo. He missed Hunk, too. Not even close to how much he was missing Keith, but still. Best friend gone was up there in ‘reasons for wallowing’.

He sniffled again and thought about crying more when he startled at a beep on his communicator. His half soul surged a little at the idea of Keith calling.

He scrambled, picking it up and answering the call that read ‘Red Lion’. The video picked up and he started crying again as Keith’s torso pulled up on the screen. Lance’s mood lifted just minimally when he saw Keith all snuggled up in the pilot’s chair without armor and wrapped in Lance’s jacket.

“Lance…” he said, visibly relaxing.

Lance let out a wet shocked laugh. “Hey…thank gods. I’ve been so…”

“Yeah,” Keith said, expression softening. “Me too.”

He hesitated but needed to ask. “Have you…has anything happened to your-?”

“I can’t see color without you,” Keith said, without needing to hear the rest.

Lance let out a sharp breath, then he cried harder. “Me neither. And the others say my eyes…”

“Hunk said the same about mine.”

They stared at each other, wanting to reach through and grab hold of the other. They had so much to say, but nothing seemed to want to come out of their mouths.

“Are you okay?” Keith asked finally. His voice was croaky, just like he had been crying too.

Lance let out an unamused laugh. “ _Okay?_ I’m like a walking hollow shell.”

Keith sighed. “I didn’t know what else to ask. I’m barely holding on as it is.”

“I hate this,” Lance whimpered. “It’s like my heart split in two. And I’m so fucking _cold.”_

Akira meowed, moving onto the bed and snuggling against Lance’s head. Keith looked so in pain.

“I know. Me too,” Keith said, quietly.

“Where’s Hunk?” Lance asked, after a few more ticks of silence.

Keith gestured with his chin to the back of the lion. “He let me alone for this. I’ve…we’ve been talking a lot. He’s a lot more on our side than Shiro’s. He’s really…nice. I’m glad I’m here with him.”

Lance relaxed, nodding. “Good. Gods, I’m glad. That’s really good. Have you been eating okay?”

Keith chuckled, weakly. “Hunk wouldn’t let me go a tick without eating. You?”

He cringed, looking away. “Oh…I’ve…been alright…”

“Lance…” he said, more intent. “You need to keep eating. And…talk to the others. Don’t hide away so much.”

“Since when did you start saying that kind of stuff? This is Keith 101 stuff, hiding away and brooding,” Lance said, grumbling.

Keith chuckled, shrugging. “I had this weird thing happen to my brain. Made me think differently.”

Lance sighed. “The girls did invite me to a girls’ night…”

“Good. Go. Talk. Have some fun,” Keith said, insistent. “Don’t get lost in the black and white. As soon as I come back, we’ll have color again.”

Lance melted into an affectionate smile. “Wow. I think I want that tattooed, that was so sweet.”

Keith grinned, almost happy. He slowly lost it, though. Lance lost his, too.

“I miss your blue eyes…”

Lance whined, falling back on the bed. “I still hate this. Vehemently. With all my cells and down to my electrons and protons. The quarks that make up my electrons and protons hate this, too.”

“My quarks are detesting this, too,” Keith said, laughing a little. “They told me so.”

Lance hummed. “I wonder if this bond goes down to our quarks. They seem to be screaming in resistance.”

They talked some more, about anything and everything. They seemed to be stuck on some quantum physics and astrophysics at first, leading to the Garrison and childhood and then to Voltron quintessence. They must have talked too long, because Keith had to cut off some theorizing about how strong quintessence was in its purest form.

“Hunk said that the convoy’s approaching. We have to get back to recon,” he said, reluctantly.

Lance deflated, feeling the freezing chill again. “Oh…right. Okay. Well, uh…until you call…again…”

“Yeah…” he said, leaning over and hovering his hand over the end call button. He looked up again, more emotional. “Lance. I…uh, I….”

Keith sighed, then gave him a sad smile. “I’ll see you again soon, alright?”

Lance nodded. “See you soon.”

Keith sighed, shutting off the call and bringing up their recon records. Hunk wordlessly came out from the back of the lion and settled on the ground next to the pilot’s seat and together, they took down every detail of the convoy coming in. How big the ship was, anyone they could recognize, any frequency used for communication.

It was an empty effort, fueled only by boredom and utter deep depression.

When the convoy left, Keith shakily brought up the screenshot he took of Lance in the call, where he had finally laughed at a joke Keith made and he stared at the completely colorless face. Tears welled up in his eyes again and he zipped up Lance’s jacket to his neck, burying himself in the hood.

“Keith…” Hunk whispered, sounding like that broke his heart.

“Why can’t people just let us…be together? Why can’t anyone just let us be happy? I haven’t ever been happy like I am with him,” Keith said, bringing up his knees and hugging them to his chest. “Gods, I’m just so fucking _cold_ without him…”

Hunk stood up, laying a soft hand on Keith’s head. “I’m really sorry for all this, Keith. Lance is my best friend and I hate seeing him like this, but I’m your friend too. I shouldn’t have neglected you like that. Let me make it up to you.”

Keith looked up, eyes spilling over. “What? How?”

Hunk offered a hand, a gentle smile on his face. “I know I’m not Lance. But, I’ve heard I’m an awesome cuddle-bear. If you wanted a little more warmth.”

Keith sniffled, then sighed. He took the hand and together, they headed back in the lion towards the bed. Hunk laid back against the wall on his side, turned toward Keith and Keith slowly arranged himself to tuck his head against Hunk’s chest. He didn’t wrap his arms around Hunk, but instead latched into his shirt. Hunk placed an easy hand on Keith’s head, patting it a few times.

“We don’t have to talk or anything. Just know that I’m willing to listen.”

Keith wiped away a few tears, closing his eyes and feeling the bone-deep chill lose its vice-like grip on his mind a little.

“Thank you, Hunk.”

They ended up talking a little, just enough so that Keith could lose himself to sleep. He didn’t dream.

Lance sighed for the millionth time, hovering his fist in the air in front of Allura’s door.

Akira meowed at him, still in his tiger form. Lance found he felt a lot better with tiger Akira without Keith around. It was like Keith was still there in spirit.

He sighed yet again, then knocked on the door. It whooshed open immediately. He stepped back, as Allura’s grinning face met him. She must have not seen his eyes fully until that moment because her expression crumpled. He regretted coming.

“Hey,” he muttered, looking away.

She sighed, then smiled at him, more in control. “Come in. Pidge was just telling me a story about her brother, Matt. I think you’d really like it.”

He reluctantly followed, taking in the (still colorless) scene. The bed was full of fluffy blankets and pillows and Pidge was sitting cross legged with comfy pajamas. She sighed with relief at seeing Lance. She only glanced at his eyes before wiggling some nail polish bottles.

“What color?” she asked.

His heart plummeted. “Uh…I…uh…”

“Why don’t you choose for him, Pidge?” Allura said, saving him.

Pidge looked confused, looking down at all the polish bottles. She looked back up at Lance, as he started sweating anxiously.

“Do you have red?” Lance asked, quietly.

Pidge smiled. “Yeah. Red’s good.”

He sat on the edge of the bed, Akira sitting at his feet. Allura came around and laid back behind him, hair cascading around her. He slowly smiled at her, as she was so stunning even in black and white.

She smiled back. “I missed a smiley Lance.”

He turned around as Akira laid his head down in his lap. “Sorry. For…being so out of it.”

He toed off his shoes and brought his legs up. “Come on, baby. You can transform.”

The tiger jumped up and midair transformed into the kitten version. He landed right in the middle of Allura’s hair and batted it around, playfully. She giggled at it. It made Lance’s chill ease a little.

Pidge reached for his hand. “Give me your hands. Bright red or dark red?”

“Bright. Bright red…” he said, wistful.

She smirked, taking his left hand and going at it. “Coming right up.”

Allura stared up at his eyes. “The…the separation. It took away your color, didn’t it?”

Lance flinched, non-preoccupied hand coming up to his cheekbone. He sighed. He didn’t want to lie. He was tired of lying.

“Yeah. I-I can’t…everything’s in black and white now….” He whispered.

Pidge froze, looking up, horrified. “Seriously? Are you-gods, no wonder you’re like a zombie.”

Allura sighed. “Pidge…not exactly helping.”

“No…it’s okay,” he said, shaking his head. “I feel dead inside, pretty much.”

Pidge clicked her tongue, getting back to work on the polish. “Jeez. That’s heavy. Is Keith…?”

“The same. We talked earlier. He’s…the same,” he said, quietly.

Allura shook her head, squeezing her eyes shut. “I’m so sorry, Lance. I should never have let Shiro talk me into switching Keith’s partner.”

Lance chuckled, just because he didn’t know what else to do. “Who can really argue against that guy except Keith? He’s Shiro. The guy that knows everything.”

They all sat silent at that. Akira was meowing and puttering around the bed as the only noise. Lance may have really regretted coming.

“I think I’m angry…” Pidge said, frowning.

Lance looked at her, surprised. “Huh?”

“I think Shiro’s wrong. And I should have said something,” she said, softly.

Allura sat up, placing a gentle hand on Lance’s shoulder. “You both…we saw a change in you. It was…wonderful. You were both so bright and happy and…it felt like a new fire for Voltron. Like a blessing. And now I know you have such a deep connection to something that was sacred for my people, that made me so happy, too.”

Lance slowly smiled. “I guess…big highs come with really low lows.”

“We’ll run interference. When he gets back. I promise you that,” Pidge said, determined. “You’ll get color back and…you can tell him you love him.”

Lance tensed, blinking his colorless eyes at her. “You-I’m…I don’t know…that’s…”

“Are you saying you _don’t_ love him _?”_ Allura asked, an eyebrow at him.

He sighed, deflating. “Of course, I do. What else could it be that I’m feeling? Jesus, I’m _colorblind_ without him. But, I just…this is a lot, you know? And…it’s hard to gauge what _kind_ of love I’m feeling…like, it’s been just a few weeks and everything’s…so _much._ ”

“It’s a lot for us, too,” Pidge said, finishing up his right hand. “Give me the other now.”

He turned his body more towards her and gave her his left.

“I know it is,” he said, quietly. “I’m sorry this has just…taken over everything.”

“Lance,” Allura said, sitting up fully and wrapping Lance’s arm up in a soft embrace. “You need not apologize for being…in love and in a bond that transcends understanding. It’s magnificent. It’s incredible. And Keith obviously adores you.”

Lance sputtered, but felt no flushing. He must have been too cold. “That’s…I-,”

“Yeah, he does. It’s obvious. And tell him. When he gets back. Please. It’ll make things way, way easier,” Pidge said, firm. “Plus…I mean, no offense, but your eyes seriously give me the wigs. And your hand is freezing.”

Lance snorted. “Okay. Fair enough.”

“Now, will you want to do a hydrating face mask or a tightening one?” Allura asked, holding up two round jars.

He hummed. “Hydrating. My crying has totally messed with my PH balance.”

Lance laid back between his girls, letting them pamper him. Pidge talked incessantly about anything she could think of. She ended up re-telling the story about Matt, making Lance laugh again. Allura played with Akira on the bed, making him smile.

They ended up in a small pile, both girls curled up to his sides and he slept with his face turned into Allura’s mass of hair. It smelled like juniberries and stars.

His emotions were still numb and hard to access, but there were whispers of happiness. Thoughts of affection and warmth. A splash of scent that represented a color.

Lance actually ended up glad that he went. He was much more comfortable than he thought he’d be. He definitely missed Keith and wanted his warmth. But, some of that time with the girls, he felt something close to it.


	18. Chapter 18

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance is Angry and Keith is Tired

Keith counted the week down by the tick. He obsessed about when he was allowed to go back.

He could feel the exhaustion of his mind constantly trying to reach over the leagues of distance to reach Lance’s aura.

“Dude, you’re like…super in love with Lance, aren’t you?” Hunk asked by the fourth day.

He snorted, unamused. “I have…completely no idea. Maybe? I…I think so? It’s really hard to distinguish what’s…just regular like…platonic love and…romantic love…And I don’t know or even care at all if it’s from the bond or whatever. I think it happened way before it. But, right now…All I know is that I’m in agony away from him.”

Hunk smiled, pleased. “Alright. And I’ll have you know that Lance is my best friend and I’m going to always look out for him. So if you ever hurt him…”

“Never,” Keith said, immediately. “Absolutely never.”

Hunk hummed, handing over a packed sandwich. “Eat. You’re like a zombie.”

He took the food, looking for the millionth time at his watch. So many vargas left.

“Are you going to tell him? When you get back?” Hunk asked, curious.

Keith paused, thinking it over. “Maybe. Shiro’s still….a factor.”

“Yeah. Why is he so…against this?” he asked, sitting against the wall of the hull, taking some drinks from his packed vitamin pouches.

Keith buried his fists in the pockets of Lance’s jacket and leaning back in the pilot’s seat. Gods, he was so tired.

“He found out about this before we told anyone else. Some weird stuff with the concussion and nightmares. And-,” Keith sighed, shutting his eyes from seeing the disorienting colorless world. “He freaked. Made it seem like we were crazy for wanting it this way.”

“That’s not right. I may not…understand this quite well, but it seems to be a large check in the plus benefit category of weird paladin things that happened,” Hunk said. “Especially how happy Lance has been. He’s been like… _glowing.”_

Keith smiled and opened his eyes. “He always glows. From the inside out.”

Hunk gave him a fond look. “You’re secretly really sappy, huh?”

Keith hesitated, feeling the regular hole in his heart. “Sweet samurai. That’s what Lance calls me…”

“And along with being secretly sappy, you’re completely whipped,” Hunk said, chuckling.

He rolled his eyes, kicking at Hunk’s ankle. Hunk laughed, which made Keith see just a wisp of yellow.

Fifty-one vargas.

Lance just had to get through fifty-one more vargas until Keith came back.

He worked on the training deck, trying to work against the challenge of his colorblindness. He blasted through the leg of one and then sent Akira to pounce on its chest.

“Take it down,” he instructed, firmly.

Akira roared, biting off its head and ripping it from the neck. He threw it down as it disappeared. Lance panted from the exercise, groaning at the headache from trying to see colors that weren’t there without Keith in his head.

He rubbed at it, then took long, calming breaths. _Focus._

Lance was trying to use this opportunity to take up the challenge if ever he and Keith were separated. He needed to know how to keep his head in the game.

He wanted to work with something more…direct. Close combat-wise. He considered going to get a staff, when his bayard shifted in his hand. He lifted it as the bayard transformed into another form, gaping at the decision.

A longsword. Just like Keith’s.

Lance slowly blinked at it, then twirled it a little. He wasn’t trained with a sword, but he’d worked with Keith enough to understand the basics. He grinned.

“Start training level two. Close combat.”

He worked on his new weapon form, definitely failing at the advancements he would need to use it in the field just yet, but adequate enough that he could beat the gladiator on the lower levels. He couldn’t _wait_ to show Keith.

But, the exhaustion and the headache got the better of him and he had to cut off the training session, bending at the waist and panting.

“You should take it easy.”

Lance sighed, whipping around in anger. “What do you want? I thought I told you not to talk to me. I’m training, obviously. I thought you’d be happy keeping us all working non-stop.”

Shiro stood in the doorway, with crossed arms. Like usual Shiro. It pissed Lance off to no end.

“You’re not like this. You’re not like Keith,” he said, frowning.

Lance stepped back, actually offended. “Why the hell did that sound like I shouldn’t _want_ to be like Keith? Who-who a _re_ you?”

Akira leapt in front of him, growling at Shiro. Lance didn’t even bother to quiet him. Shiro stood still, exasperated.

“Lance, I’m trying to look out for you both. You don’t know what this bond does to you. It could be dangerous. Irresponsible to stay in it,” Shiro said, rubbing at his temple.

“No. _You_ don’t know what this bond does to us. And that scares you. But, let me _tell_ you. That without him? It’s like my heart cracked in two. My brain is turned to nothing. And turns out? Keith is like eighty percent of my impulse control,” Lance growled, transforming his bayard into its pistol form. He raised it to aim right at Shiro’s head. “So why don’t we see how much of Keith is actually left in my head, huh?”

Shiro looked dumbfounded. “Are you…you’re serious?”

Lance sent Akira a glance. “I have no idea. Right now, obviously I’m not really in my right mind. You want to risk it?”

Akira growled harder. Shiro slowly backed out, then turned down the hall. Lance checked his watch.

Fifty vargas.

Something was wrong.

Keith could feel it, like a sucking of his energy. Depletion within just a few hours of waking, even though Hunk and him rarely left the lion. He wasn’t doing much exercise at all.

But, for some reason, it was like walking through sludge whenever he stayed awake for longer than five hours. His head pounded and his mind was clouded with immense fatigue. He staggered into the wall by the sixth day, unable to hold himself up anymore. Hunk swiveled in the pilot’s chair, then immediately ran to his side.

“Keith! Dude, you’re looking really bad lately. Are you sure we shouldn’t just go back early? We have enough recon records,” Hunk said, wrapping Keith’s arm around his shoulders.

_Gods, do I want to say yes_

Keith just shook his head, weakly. “No…I can do this.”

Hunk sighed, exasperated. “Okay…well, go at least rest. Maybe call Lance. You always seem a little better after that.”

“Yeah…okay. I haven’t called him today,” Keith mumbled, letting Hunk basically carry him over to the bed in the back.

Keith laid back and snuggled so deep into Lance’s jacket that he almost disappeared. It countered the chill only a little. He pulled out his communicator and then curled up in the corner of the bed.

He called Lance’s personal communicator.

It picked up within a few rings. Lance’s face pulled up and Keith nearly choked at what he saw.

Lance was panting from exertion, sweat dripping down his face. Keith didn’t even say a greeting and just stared for a few seconds. And when the communicator was set on the ground to then turn into a holoscreen, Keith could see that Lance was shirtless, sitting crossed-legged in the training room.

“Hey there samurai…” Lance said, relaxing his chin into a palm that he rested on his knee. His expression melted into affection and openness.

Keith was staring. _Fuck this colorblindness._

Even in black and white, Keith could see the muscles that rolled underneath Lance’s skin and damp sweat that dripped down his chest. Gods, he wished he could see the golden tan skin and the bright blue eyes.

If Keith had any warmth or blood pumping left, he would have been a very compromised man.

“Keith?”

He startled out of his reverie, then opened his mouth to say _something._

_“Guh.”_

And then he wanted to die. He’ll just call Hunk over and he could throw Keith out a spacelock. The waves of energy would take care of him.

Lance, however, just slowly smirked. “Oh…I get it…”

He moved onto his knees, turning around to show off his gods damn _back_ and Keith short-circuited. If he wasn’t about to pass out before, he sure as hell was then.

Lance then brought up his arms, to flex, then to flex his shoulders muscles. He looked over his shoulder to give Keith a coy smile.

“I’ve been working out a little. Like what you see?”

Lance’s voice was supposedly casual but had an underlayer of suggestion. Keith had to swallow on his dry throat to distract himself with a feeling of pain.

“Uh…I…uh,” Keith coughed a little. “Yeah. Looking-looking good. Uh, I mean…uh, good-good progress.”

Lance turned back around with an even bigger smile, settling with an easy arm on a bent knee. He looked like he was straight out of a magazine he looked so gods damn good.

“What’s the matter, Kogane? Cat got your tongue?” Lance asked, cocking his head.

Keith took a long deep breath, pinching his leg _hard._

_Get it together, Keith. This is Lance._

“Just-just fine. Sorry, been feeling kind of…out of it,” he said, rubbing at his still pounding head.

Lance’s _incredible_ attempt at seduction dropped and he scooted forward to look over Keith with concerned eyes.

“Are you okay? What’s wrong?” he asked, quickly. “Are you sleeping?”

Keith nodded, weakly. “I’m sleeping almost too much. It’s like my internal battery is only charged to ten percent every time I wake up. I feel like I’m ready to pass out all the time.”

Lance’s (still fucking _colorless)_ eyes widened in alarm. “What? Keith, that’s not good. What if the separation really is too much? Should I make Shiro bring you back? Should I call Hunk?”

“No,” Keith said, shaking his head. “No, no. I can handle this. I’m just…tired.”

Lance frowned, not liking that answer at all. “What if something goes wrong with this? I’m not there to help you. Coran said that this was all because we didn’t have time to establish a stable bond. We’re still figuring it out. This could really be something bad.”

“How are you feeling?” Keith asked, changing the subject. “Has Shiro given you trouble?”

Lance looked unimpressed nonetheless sighed and took it. “I’m pretty tired, too. But, that might be because I’ve spent nearly every day on the training deck.”

Keith chuckled. “Well that’s a change. I thought you didn’t like training because it was tedious?”

“I needed to work off some frustration with you gone. And the colorblindness adds some more challenge. Makes me think a lot more,” Lance said, shrugging. “Plus…”

He sighed again, running a hand over his face. “Makes me feel closer to you. Doing what you’d do…”

Keith’s chest felt almost something like warmth at that and he melted against the wall.

“Oh…”

_Gods, I’m just completely hopeless, huh?_

“Akira misses you,” Lance said, quietly.

At the sound of his name, the baby kitten scrambled up from where he was snoozing in the corner and scuttled to Lance’s legs. Keith smiled at the scene, as Lance reached down and scratched the kitten’s ears.

“I miss him too…”

Lance gave him a sad smile. They stared at each other for a few seconds, just trying to bask in each other’s presences through the screen. The exhaustion that Keith had been feeling pulled at his chest, his head swirling with dizziness. A scratching at the back of his throat caught his attention.

Keith then suddenly started coughing violently.

He dropped the communicator to the bed and shoved his face in the crook of his elbow, feeling a harsh wetness sputter out of his mouth. It was over in about fifteen ticks, but he felt like he was on the verge of passing out when he was done.

He breathed heavily and fell back against the wall again, his eyes unable to focus on anything.

“ _Keith! Keith, what’s happening? Keith!”_

Keith blindly reached for his communicator. A shuddering breath released from his weak lungs as he grabbed it. He held it up in front of his face, still unable to focus.

“Lance…” he wheezed out, coughing a little again. “S-sorry. Have-have to go now…”

“Keith, don’t you dare-,”

He ended the call and slumped over. His vision went entirely dark.

Lance stared as the call went dead.

_Oh, hell no. This is ending right the fuck now._

He sprinted down the hallways, ignoring the shooting pains from his overworking muscles and his gods damn _pounding_ headache. He rushed onto the bridge, breathing hard as Allura, Shiro and Coran turned in alarm.

“Get him back here, now. Something’s wrong. Call them back,” he said, trying for any means of intimidation.

Shiro frowned, crossing his arms in front of him. “What are you talking about? We just had a check in four vargas ago. He was fine.”

Lance then saw _red._

“No, he’s _not!”_ he yelled, stalking right up to Shiro’s face. “He just went unconscious on our call. Started coughing up _blood,_ Shiro! Call them _back!”_

Shiro’s face finally lost some composure at that, a flicker of terror. Lance turned to look as Coran paled. Coran then did something Lance had never seen him do. He went against specific orders.

He actually shoved both their leaders from the console and called up the Red Lion.

Hunk’s face immediately came up on the screen, hovering behind the pilot’s chair. He turned to see the feed from the bridge and he sighed with relief.

“Oh thank gods, I was just about to call you. Something’s wrong with Keith. I don’t know what it is, but he’s unconscious and there’s blood on his face and-,” Hunk said, quickly.

“Hunk, can you pilot the red lion back?” Coran asked, seriously.

Hunk sputtered, looking over the controls. “Uh, oh, uh….I don’t know….”

“Send me in a wormhole,” Lance spoke up, determined. “I can shuttle them back.”

Allura turned to him, with wide, alarmed eyes. She nervously glanced to Shiro, then turned much more resolute. Lance thought he’d actually seen the best thing ever since losing his color.

“Lance, go suit up. Get to your lion quickly. We need to get Keith back, now.”

He turned and literally jumped down the shute to the lions’ hangar.

Lance practically speed changed into his suit, reveling in Blue’s comforting and urging presence over his mind. He quickly climbed into his cockpit, bringing up the feed from the bridge.

Shiro had disappeared from the bridge.

“I’m giving you a wormhole, now. Lance, you have to work as quick as possible. In just a few more doboshes that planet will emit the waves of energy and the blue lion doesn’t have the reinforced hull to survive it,” Allura said, desperately.

“Understood,” Lance said, hands clenching on the controls.

He piloted out of the hangar at record speeds as the wormhole opened up in the space right in front of him. He sped up and went right through it.

Lance saw the red lion sitting on the far side of the moon near the planet. He rocketed down and latched onto the outside of the limp ship. He could feel the radiation pulses from the planet and he grimaced as the energy waved around him.

He was able to barely make it out the other side with the red lion as he was pushed through from the energy waves.

Lance and Keith were finally together again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> alright, everyone, i know you want to sharpen your pitchforks for Shiro, but just hold on. We got more shit to do


	19. Chapter 19

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finding colors again

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lmao y'all crack me up in the comments

Lance watched with a nervous biting at his nails, pacing the med bay as Coran quickly looked over Keith’s still pale body. Hunk hovered in the background, nervously. Akira was pacing next to Lance.

Lance still only saw in black and white.

“Is he okay? What happened? Is…is the bond broken?” Lance asked, feeling a churning in his gut.

Coran just sighed, as he scanned Keith’s brain. “No. The bond isn’t broken. Quintessence links are still trying to attach to you. I can see it. But, Keith’s body has gone through an intense ordeal trying to find the connection again. The exhaustion was too much for him.”

Lance collapsed into a chair next to Keith’s bed, clutching desperately onto Keith’s hand.

“What do we do? What can I-,” Lance tried to ask, then suddenly the monitors on Keith started to beep.

Keith’s eyes slowly started moving under the eyelids and his hand twitched under Lance’s fingers. Coran looked at the monitors and then down to their attached hands.

“He needs you,” Coran said, taking Keith’s other hand and giving it to Lance.

Lance was all too happy to wrap both Keith’s hands in his own, squeezing. He brought himself close to Keith’s face. He studied Keith as his breathing stabilized and then his face twitched. Slowly, his eyes blinked open.

Lance let out a sob, just as Keith immediately shot up in bed with a large sucking in of a breath. Lance scrambled back to avoid getting hit. Keith then looked up at him, with wide, disbelieving eyes.

“Lance…” he breathed out, relieved.

Lance nodded, squeezing Keith’s hands. “Oh my gods, hi, are you oka-?”

Keith then ripped away the IV and the covers in a mad dash. Lance stepped back from the bed, confused.

“Uh, Keith, uh, what….?”

And suddenly Lance had to keep himself steady as Keith _launched_ himself at Lance.

Color. Color everywhere. It hurt Lance’s eyes how bright and colorful the world was again.

Lance yelped as Keith slammed right into his chest. Lance fell to his back, not even caring as he inhaled Keith’s scent and swam in the churning bright red aura around him. His right hand came up to cup the back of Keith’s head and other arm encircled his hip. Keith straddled his hips and pulled him up to a sitting position, wrapping both his arms and legs around him like a koala.

Keith was clutching at Lance so tight that he was almost afraid of breaking a rib.

“Lance…gods, Lance…never again. I’m never letting that happen again,” Keith whispered, voice cracking.

Lance nodded, unable to say anything and just cried in Keith’s hair. Their auras clutched at each other too, just as fervently reaching for each other’s energy as physically.

Both Coran and Hunk sighed in audible relief.

Lance sniffled as tears streamed down his face against Keith’s hair. He couldn’t help the sobs of fear and grief. Keith just held impossibly tighter.

“I’m sorry for scaring you. I’m okay, I promise,” Keith said, quietly in his ear.

“Are you sure? How do you feel?” Lance asked, running a hand up and down Keith’s back in his lap.

“Loads better. Like someone jumpstarted my engine again. I could fight an entire army right now,” Keith said, sighing.

“Thank gods. Jesus, that scared the shit out of me…”

“Keith, are you sure you’re feeling alright?” Coran asked, kneeling close to them and looking him over. “Can you tell me what happened?”

“I felt bad without Lance. Now I feel better,” Keith said, bluntly.

Lance chuckled, shaking his head. “Don’t overwhelm us with details, huh?”

Hunk spoke up close to the door. “I think that’s all you’re going to need to know, because I hear the others outside the room.”

“I’m very glad you two are together and enjoying each other’s company again. I would suggest you to stay in the med bay, but to be truthful, I’d rather you keep to yourselves and I have a bad feeling that a certain black paladin may try to intervene if you stay here,” Coran said, bringing them back down to Earth.

Or castle-ship, whatever.

Lance and Keith slowly separated, then seemed to realize just how embarrassing their positions was. Keith still looked up with his sparkling, wonderful indigo eyes and Lance didn’t let him go. He looked over Keith’s shoulder and nodded at Hunk as he stood behind them in the doorway.

Akira sat next to his paladins embracing, snuggling his head against Keith’s side.

“I’ll get you two out without any trouble. Won’t let anyone disturb you,” Hunk said, looking quite exhausted himself.

“They’re right. We should…go somewhere private,” Lance whispered, hands running over Keith’s cheeks and neck. “So no one can bother us again.”

Keith nodded, slowly moving himself off Lance’s lap and standing, pulling up Lance with him. Akira meowed more, circling around them. Lance felt a huge swoop in his stomach at seeing that Keith was still wearing Lance’s jacket. He hadn’t even noticed when he was so focused on getting Keith okay again.

“Are you _positive_ you’re feeling okay?” Lance asked, staring at Keith’s entire face. He gently cradled Keith’s cheeks in his hands, stepping as close as possible.

Keith leaned into the embrace, smiling a little. “I’m so much better now that I’m here with you.”

Lance sighed, pressing his forehead to meet Keith’s.

“Me too….”

“Gods, I missed your blue so much…” Keith said, quietly. He stared at Lance’s eyes deeply.

Hunk let out a low mumble. “Jesus, you two…come on, will you?”

Lance kept a tight hold on Keith’s hand and Akira hurried to walk in front, protectively. Hunk opened the door, revealing the entire rest of the team.

Keith tensed and Lance rolled his eyes. Hunk held up his hands, motioning them all back.

“Haven’t you all done enough? Leave them be,” Hunk said, voice firm.

Shiro frowned, looking over them both. Lance’s lip curled and he glared.

“Got something to say?” Lance asked, growling.

Keith looked over at him, a little alarmed. “Lance…”

“Akira. Protect us,” Lance said, ignoring it.

The tiger growled at the team and they all stepped back. Hunk turned and nodded at them. They hurried past, Lance pulling Keith through the door and down the halls. Akira ran after them. No one followed.

Lance pulled Keith into his room, closing it and manually locking it. Akira bounced around them as Lance hugged him again. Keith melted immediately, clutching at the back of Lance’s shirt.

Gods, how Lance missed colors.

His vision danced with the surge of bright hues all around them. Lance was staring at anything and everything he could to stay sane. Their auras converged so entirely that it was almost just a bright, all-consuming purple.

They held each other as tight as they could, but Lance still felt restless and wrong inside. Like the bond didn’t believe Keith was back for good.

_Jesus, it’s only been one week_

“Its…its not enough,” Lance whispered, sniffling through his tears. “I’m still so gods damn cold…”

“Shirts,” Keith said, stepping back and shucking off the jacket. Lance seemed to stall in surprise, but then choked when Keith pulled his shirt over his head. “Skin. Contact.”

“Oh, oh okay. Yeah.”

Lance followed suit to pull off his shirt and immediately they met back in the middle.

The feeling of skin and heat and warmth added an entirely new layer to their connection. Muscles rolled underneath their skin, blood pumping right through their veins. Lance was sure every blood cell and platelet was screaming with joy.

“Better?” Keith asked, shuddering under Lance’s hands.

“Yeah…yeah wow, how’d you know that would work?” Lance asked, laughing a little.

Keith hummed. “I don’t know. Might have just wanted to see you without a shirt on…”

Lance’s face heated up and he let out more laughter, nearly sounding insane. He held Keith tighter. There was such a bone-deep relief coursing through him, he almost missed a small rumbling against his chest. Keith froze in his arms, backing away and looking down at his own chest, confused.

“Uh…Keith?” Lance asked, softly.

Keith’s eyes flickered back up to him, then Lance took a chance, slowly running curled fingers through Keith’s hair. His eyes closed at it, leaning into Lance’s hand, a deep rumble starting again. Akira seemed to react, rubbing against Keith’s hip and emitting a similar rumble.

“Holy shit, Keith….you _purr?”_ Lance asked, wheezing

Keith’s eyes shot open and they were wide with embarrassment. “It’s not…I’m not…it’s…uh…”

Lance _melted._ He hugged Keith tighter, reveling in the reluctant rumble against his bare chest.

_A- **fucking-** dorable_

“Let’s lay down,” Keith said, walking them back to the bed.

They laid down with a scramble of limbs and giggles. Akira meowed at the opening, nuzzling his head over the two of them. They ended up on their sides, facing each other. Their legs entwined just like their auras.

“Why is he still in his tiger form?” Keith asked, looking over Lance’s head to Akira’s giant tiger head.

“Oh, right,” Lance said, turning back over and patting his chest. “Come on, baby. Come snuggle.”

The tiger jumped up and landed as a kitten on Lance’s hip and he stumbled over, falling between them with a startled meow. Keith chuckled, reached over and picking him up, settling him on the pillow next to their heads.

They settled as close as humanly (or part Galranly, in Keith’s case) as possible. Keith tucked himself under Lance’s chin, limbs wrapping around Lance again. Lance ran comforting hands over Keith’s back and hair. The deep, rumbling purr was a constant in Keith’s chest.

Lance _loved_ it.

He took the time to analyze through Keith’s colors, noting all his favorites, the red and the dark blues and the newer yellows and oranges. There really wasn’t any feelings of fatigue or fever that he could feel.

It was over so quick as soon as they were together again.

Lance took an important note of that.

“Are you _sure-?”_

“Yes, Lance. I’m okay. I feel tons better. Are you okay?”

Lance sighed, burying himself in Keith’s hair.

“Now I am…”

Keith then drew back, to stare back up at Lance’s face. His fingers reached up and stroked down over Lance’s orbital bone and nose.

“You really like my eyes, huh?” Lance asked, smirking.

Keith shrugged, mouth twitching into a smile. “Same color as your aura.”

Lance hummed, focusing on Keith’s trails over his face with his fingers. Keith’s hand settled to cup his cheek and Lance felt such an overwhelming sense of tenderness that he turned and snuggled in Keith’s hand.

As they continued to just bask in the feelings of being together again, Keith kept running his hands all over Lance’s body, like he memorizing every detail.

Keith picked up Lance’s hand that was sitting on his hip by entwining their fingers, bringing them close to their faces. Lance felt a pick in heartrate, but allowed it all to happen. Keith fiddled with Lance’s fingers, studying them.

“Red?” Keith asked, eyes flicking back to Lance’s face.

Lance froze, finally noticing his own bright fire engine red fingernails. He laughed, nervously.

“I wasn’t sure Pidge actually did what I asked. Couldn’t tell with the…you know, colorblindness. We had a girls’ night,” he explained, shrugging. “I was…pretty out of it without you, you know. May have threatened Shiro’s life once…or twice.”

Keith’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. “Really? Like actually or with big words?”

Lance looked away, shrugging again. “Uh, well…a gun…may have been pointed. A tiger…might have growled. And not stopped. I’m sorry, I know I said that you-,”

“Don’t be,” Keith said, shaking his head. “This was way out of line. He deserves that and more.”

“What really happened? With that…coughing and falling unconscious? I didn’t have that happen,” Lance questioned, frowning.

Keith scooted up the bed so his face was level with Lance’s. He looked concentrated.

“I don’t really know how to explain it…it was like my body didn’t know how to function without you. I just shut down. I kept searching out some form of comfort, but Hunk could only help so much. But, as soon as I felt the bond again, it was like it all went away,” he explained, perplexed. “It was like a shot of adrenaline.”

Lance squeezed Keith’s hand. “Gods, I’m so sorry this happened. I should have let you beat the shit out of Shiro. I’m not letting that happen again.”

They stared at each other more. Lance memorized every single line and freckle. Every pigment that deepened Keith’s hair color and eye color. His hands slowly roamed over Keith’s skin and brushed over taught muscles. Keith deepened his breathing, hands doing the same over Lance’s back and shoulders. A deep rumble erupted from Keith’s throat.

Keith’s fingers were calloused and rough over Lance’s skin. It _burned_ like paths of electricity. Lance had been so numb and lost that entire week that the feeling nearly made him dizzy with stimulation. He breathed faster.

“Lance…”

He looked right into those familiar indigo eyes again. They were wide and pleading.

“Can we just…stay here?” he asked, quietly. “For a while?”

Lance reached up and cupped Keith’s cheek. His long fingers entangled with Keith’s hair. Their auras churned with a new anxiety and anticipation.

“Keith…I want to do something. Will it be okay?”

Keith opened his lips just a tiny bit. He reached his calloused hand between them, fingers gently setting on Lance’s chin and cheek, grazing over his lips.

“Is that what you want? Do you want to kiss me?”

Lance nodded. Keith grinned.

“I thought you’d never ask.”

Their auras seemed to magnetize them together and Lance tightened his hold as their lips met in the middle.

An explosion of color. A bright shooting of fireworks and sizzling heat. They kissed, again and again, and again. Their breathing stuttered in their chests and the minds converged entirely. Like some wall had been broken down and thrown away.

Keith was really worried that he smelled funny from being in the lion and only having small breaks for showers.

Lance broke off their kissing, surprised. Keith opened his eyes, startled.

“You don’t smell,” Lance said, matter-of-factly.

Keith blinked, then his entire face turned red. “You heard that?”

Lance giggled, nodding. “Yeah. We might have just…I don’t know deepened the bond. I feel like I can hear more of your present thoughts. Not like talking in my head, though. Like the emotion has more explanation and context.”

Keith groaned in embarrassment, burying his face in Lance’s neck. “Great. I wanted things to be all romantic and stuff when I got back, but that’s what you hear from my thoughts when we kiss for the first time? Awesome. Great going, Keith.”

Lance giggled more and hummed. “It was cute. Plus, this is like…lowkey really romantic already. Our heads are connected.”

“Well, what were _you_ thinking about?” Keith asked, coming back up and nuzzling against Lance’s nose. The low purring noise sounded again and Lance nearly cooed at it.

“Oh, something poetic about fireworks and colors and blood,” he said, shrugging.

Keith scoffed. “Of course.”

“Hey, we’re staying in here today, no team. No Shiro. Why don’t we make up for lost time?” Lance asked, wiggling his eyebrows.

Keith grinned, grabbing Lance and pulling him forward. He made a noise of surprise then melted into the _red._

Gods, Lance loved the color red.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WHEW FINALLY RIGHT???   
> tbh i didn't know I was going to wait this long for them to get together, but ya know...emotions can be confusing sometimes


	20. Chapter 20

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance and Keith are together again and they're not wasting any time

The rest of the day after that, they were consumed by each other. Keith drank in all he could from Lance, every color, every swirl, every emotion. He worked to memorize every crook and cranny of Lance’s skin that he was allowed.

“Hey, Keith?” Lance asked, somewhat nervously.

He felt the changes in Lance’s colors and he straightened up from where he was kissing Lance’s shoulder lazily. He was worried that he had somehow, somewhere crossed a line and was about to start apologizing profusely, when Lance snagged his wrist to keep him close.

“No, it’s not that. I’m wanting to ask about something else…” he said, softly.

Keith settled back on the pillows with a relieved sigh and squeezed Lance’s hip where his hand still was.

“What is it?”

Lance’s lips pursed and his giant, beautiful, wonderfully blue eyes blinked.

“What are we going to do if we get separated again?” he asked, eyes shining with fresh tears at just the thought. “Coran said that humans might have more of an extreme reaction. Alteans didn’t have the problems we had. What if this bond just…makes being a paladin harder? What if you have to go off again and-and you get sick again or-or I just…become a shell and a burden?”

Keith frowned, not liking that at all. He brought up and hand and gently caressed Lance’s neck.

“You said it yourself, that this would get easier as we get used to the bond. Coran was saying it takes six months to settle into it really. And even if we can’t get separated, then that’s what we deal with. We don’t get separated, then. Simple as that. We stay a team. You could have easily been my partner for that mission. If we stay paladins, then we never do a mission without each other. That will be our condition,” Keith said, logically.

Lance’s eyebrows shot up. His colors switched to surprised and confused.

“What do you mean, _if_ we stay as paladins? Are you saying…?” he asked, shocked.

Keith shook his head. “No, no, not what I meant. Well…” he paused, actually thinking it over. “I mean, maybe at some point we could grow out of this. Retire. Ten-thousand-year war doesn’t mean that we have to fight the rest of our lives. We could…maybe leave at some point.”

“Wha-what? Leave? You’re kidding…” Lance said, gaping like a fish. “You’re so…always about duty!”

He shrugged, stroking his thumb over Lance’s cheekbone. “I realized with all of this that if being a good paladin meant that you cried, then I’m fine with being the worst paladin there ever was.”

Lance sniffled as tears welled up in his eyes. “Gods, Keith…if I knew you’d get so sappy and poetic on me I would have prepared myself…”

“But, we don’t have to worry about all that right now. The team has said that they won’t let this happen again, so I’m choosing to believe them. Plus, I’m okay with how things are right now, it’s not like I ever want to be away from you. The only real problem is Shiro,” Keith said, growing angry at the mention of the black paladin.

“Gods, I really very much threatened him. I wonder if he hates me…” Lance said, grimacing.

“What even happened with that? What did he say?” Keith asked, curiously. “I can’t even imagine you pointing a gun at him…”

Lance sighed. “I was training and he came in.” He suddenly perked up, gasping. He sat up, pulling Keith with him.

“Wait! I totally forgot! Here, check this out!”

Keith waited as Lance got out of bed, surprising Akira that was sleeping on the pillow. He startled and meowed, grumpily. Lance grabbed his bayard off the ground, then miraculously transformed it.

Into a sword.

“Holy shit!” Keith said, incredulous. “Lance, that’s incredible!”

Lance grinned, preening at the praise. He swished the sword around, definitely with shaky form, but they could work on that. Keith got up, too, staring at the blue sword that mirrored his own bayard form.

“How did…?”

“I don’t know, I just thought about wanting to work on close combat. Then it transformed!”

Keith smiled. “I wonder if the bond can give us more skills with the other’s specialty. I really hope so, I’m a god-awful shot.”

Lance giggled, deactivating his weapon. “I can give you lessons. It’s all about the breath and a steady hand.”

Keith rolled his eyes, reaching up and encircling Lance’s neck with his arms. Lance accepted him by placing his arms around his hips.

“Willing to teach me a few things, sharpshooter?” he asked, lowering his voice. “About breath and a steady hand…”

Lance’s eyes widened by the suggestion, then his colors darkened, but with purposeful excitement. It smelled like sweat and skin and set Keith’s nerve endings on fire.

Lance grinned, leaning into Keith’s space. “What a bold man you are, samurai….”

They met in the middle with a fiery kiss, hands tightening around each other. Lance’s lips were soft and supple, even as Keith knew his own had to be chapped and uninviting. Yet, that didn’t stop Lance from biting his lower lip, making him open and they converged again, this time with groping hands and gasping moans.

Lance backed him up until he fell backwards on the bed and Lance leaned over him, still standing. Keith’s hand reached down to the waistline of Lance’s jeans on his hips. His fingers dipped below to feel the skin he hadn’t had the pleasure of feeling yet.

Lance’s colors stuttered and he backed away, breathing heavily and eyes blown wide. Keith immediately took his hands back, knowing that he had definitely been the one to cross the line.

“Sorry, sorry I didn’t-,” Keith said, face burning with shame.

“No, no it’s okay…” Lance said, voice trembling a little. “I just think maybe we should stop for a bit…the bond’s really overwhelming at the moment from being separated too long. I don’t want this to be so…clouded with emotions and stuff.”

Keith breathed a sigh of relief. He nodded. “Yeah, okay. What do you want to do now?”

Lance hummed, standing back up and thinking. His colors shifted through wondering, then settled with a bright blue and yellow excitement. He smiled at Keith, getting an idea.

“Why don’t we try to get a little more experimenting done? We can go to the pool, turn off the lights and just hang out. Like the Farsnow ceremony.”

Keith nodded. “That sounds good.”

All suited up and relaxed, they jumped into the pool. And it turned out that in Akira’s tiger form, he loved to swim. He was splashing along right after them.

Keith was laughing at Akira’s wet cat look and Lance was definitely staring.

Lance thought that maybe this was something he wanted to add to his memory picture collection.

After Keith gave him the present, he saved one memory of Varadero beach, one that was basically a reproduction of a full family picture that he had at home and one of his siblings and him when they were all a little older.

He saved the last one for a memory…of someone else.

He didn’t bother to do one of the team, seeing as how they had cameras and things in the castle. But, for Lance, it seemed like it might be worth saving one of his memories of Keith.

When they were alone, just the two of them, Keith had all his walls down. He smiled, laughed, so fully and completely that it made Lance’s heart stutter.

But, as soon as they were around the rest of the team, the boy clammed up again.

He turned and looked at Lance, smile so wide that his eyes crinkled.

Akira sputtered water as he doggie paddled between them, making them both laugh again.

“Who’d have thought?” Lance said, treading water and enjoying the cool temperature.

“So, you want to like…turn off the lights and just float?” Keith asked, curious.

Lance hummed. “That could work. I don’t know what else-,”

He stalled, then he felt his mischievous side come forward. Keith must have felt it, because he gave an apprehensive look.

“Why do I have a feeling that what you’re about to suggest is going to be a lot of trouble?” Keith asked, warily.

Lance smirked, swimming to the side of the pool, ignoring Keith’s questions.

“When I came in here to figure out how to switch the pool from ceiling to floor, I went snooping over the entire place. I found a secret compartment,” he said, getting out and looking around for the nick he made with a knife on the wall.

“Okay? So what?” Keith asked, getting out too and sitting on the side with his legs still in.

“Aha!” Lance said, finding the nick and then feeling over the wall around it. It pushed in and then revealed a small opening with shelves of bottles.

He grinned and took out two bottles of fermented Altean juniberry juice. Or otherwise known as….

“Booze!”

Keith blinked as Lance brought them over. Keith’s aura was pulsing with even more apprehension and confusion.

“Lance, that’s probably been sitting in there for ten-thousand-years! There’s no way that’s safe for human consumption!”

“Pssht, man,” he said, setting the bottles down between them. “I already tried it the first time. And I’m not dead.”

“You drank this shit _alone_?” Keith asked, even more alarmed. “What if it had been like…poison?”

Lance rolled his eyes. “Just drink up, samurai. Imagine this bond while _drunk?_ Wow, what a party.”

“What if we need Voltron?” Keith asked.

Lance kept eye contact, as he slowly opened the bottle. Keith gaped as Lance tipped the bottle back, savoring the sweet and fermented alcohol taste.

“Gonna join me, samurai? Or are you scared I’ll outdrink you?”

Keith’s eyes flashed and Lance could tell the change in aura was his competitive nature coming to the surface. He narrowed his eyes at Lance, then took the bottle from Lance’s hand, taking a swig.

“You’re on, sharpshooter.”

They drank intermittently, passing the bottle back and forth. The alcohol didn’t burn hard like it did on Earth, but it immediately settled a pleasant buzz in Lance’s veins. Their colors were flitting through colors on a reel, mostly bright neons and pleasant blurs.

“Have you had a lot of alcohol on Earth?” Keith asked, curiously.

Lance hummed, feeling tipsy already.

“I went to a lot of parties at the Garrison. Cargo pilots were especially bad with that, all that frustration at not being in fighter class,” he said, growing sad at the memories. “I was right there with them. Hunk basically had to babysit me through the first like…two years of being in cargo class. Of course, that changed when the Kerberos mission happened.”

Keith froze, then deflated at that. “Oh…right…you were promoted to fighter after I got kicked out, right?”

Lance snorted, without humor. “Iverson never let me hear the end of the fact that I only got to fighter because the pilot before me had a quote, unquote ‘discipline issue’. That pissed me off even back then. You were grieving, what kind of commander calls that a ‘discipline issue’?”

“The kind that I punched in the face,” Keith explained, gruffly.

Lance let out a loud ‘HA’, then lifted the bottle of half-empty booze. “Cheers to that. Fuck that guy. I’ll punch him too when we get back.”

Keith chuckled, growing a pleasant flush around his cheeks and ears. Lance thought it was adorable and he leaned over, gently kissing the man’s face. Keith flushed harder.

In no time, they were completely trashed.

Lance was giggling uncontrollably as Akira kept doggy-paddling back and forth in the pool. Keith was staring at the wall huddling close to it, incredibly concentrated.

“Do you…mm, do you think Akira knows when we’re naked?” Keith asked, seriously slurring his words.

Lance gasped, scrambling to sit up from where he’d somehow been laying over with a leg submerged in the pool and the rest laying out to stare at the ceiling.

“Oh gods, what if we scar him! I took a shower with him sitting in the sink!”

Keith looked over, eyes shining with tears. “I don’t want our baby to know about our dicks…”

Lance shook his head, crawling over to where Keith was sitting at the wall, laying hands on his shoulders.

“No. He-it’ll be fine. Maybe he doesn’t know.”

Their auras were as slurred as their heads, just a giant swirling of colors with no discernable emotion.

“But…he can understand everything else we talk about! Mostly…” Keith said, distressed. “What if he just can’t talk! And sees our dicks and is all messed up about it! He’s…he’s just a baby!”

Lance turned around as their tiger was still doing laps.

“Let’s ask him! Akira! Baby!”

The tiger perked up, swimming to the side and using the stairs to get out, shaking its fur violently. He jogged over, then sat next to them.

Lance grabbed his neck. “Baby. Our-our baby. Do you…do you know about our dicks?”

Akira blinked at him, completely non-reactive. Keith sniffled, letting out a sigh of relief.

“I don’t think he knows about our dicks. Thanks gods,” Keith said, kneeling next to the giant tiger and patting his head. “I love you so much, Akira.”

Lance looked over, surprised by that. Akira looked over and licked Keith’s face all over. Keith grinned and giggled, not bothered at all.

“You really love him?” Lance asked, eyes welling up with tears.

Keith cocked his head in confusion. “Of course? He’s our baby. You gave me him.”

Lance’s lip quivered, then he hid his face in Akira’s neck.

“Oh, thank gods. I-I wanted you to love him. Because I love him a lot. And it’d be so sad. I’d be a single dad! I can’t be a single dad!”

Keith reached over Akira’s back and wrapped a hand on Lance’s wrist. Lance looked up again with his tears running over his face.

“You’ll never be a single dad. I’ll be here for you forever. Our heads are connected forever.”

Keith was entirely serious, even as his words slurred. Lance sniffled, then turned his hand to wrap Keith’s up.

“Forever….did you know that…I love you, Keith?” Lance said, squeezing his hand. “Have you felt that? Do you feel that?”

Keith’s eyes widened, then he melted. “I love you, too, Lance. So much. We’re… _soulmates.”_

Lance cried. A lot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lmao drunk confessions aren't something I usually like, but I still wanted some drama and with the bond being so ingrained in their heads, i just thought....  
> BOOZE   
> and then this happened


	21. Chapter 21

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Consequences...and more confessions?

Keith groaned, blinking blearily into consciousness, looking around.

_What happened?_

It took a second for him to remember any of the events from the night before, then he sucked in a breath at the pain in his head.

“Gods damn it,” he cursed, turning back over.

And running right into a naked chest.

He blinked at the brown, smooth skin, then slowly looked up at Lance’s slumbering face. He then carefully looked down Lance’s bare chest, then down to see…nothing but thin sheets over both of them.

Adrenaline filled his system, as he startled upright. This made his stomach churn and he scrambled to the bathroom, doubling over the toilet and retching.

He breathed through the violence of his purging, then coughed at the burning in his throat. He groaned again, falling back on the floor as he tried to take in surroundings.

Definitely Lance’s bathroom. He looked down, cringing. He was also most definitely naked.

He tried to think back, trying desperately to remember if something had happened between him and Lance.

He remembered going to the pool, getting out the alcohol, drinking, talking about Akira and dicks….

And then nothing.

He had no idea how he got to sleeping in Lance’s bed. Or when he got naked. Or basically anything that would have been important to know about.

He felt through the bond, trying to distinguish anything. That made his head throb, so he shut it off.

Bond’s not fun with a hangover. Noted.

He stood up, carefully and ran the tap. He brushed his teeth, then drank a lot of water. He breathed deep and he looked at himself in the mirror.

Keith had stringy hair, dark circles under his eyes and a pale complexion.

So, not that much worse than usual, really.

And he noted, no hickeys or scratches. That might be a good sign.

He felt a pull in his chest, then heard a loud groan. He headed back into the room, then they both stared at each other.

“Holy shit, dude. You’re naked.”

Keith jumped, completely forgetting that and grabbed a towel, wrapping it around his waist, flushing with embarrassment.

“Uh, what happened?” Lance asked, rubbing at his head.

Keith sighed, fearing that Lance wouldn’t remember either. Lance looked down, then carefully pulled up the covers. He blushed, quickly pulling them back down.

“Are you…”

Lance grimaced, nodding. “Yep. And did you wake up with…”

Keith nodded, cringing. “Uh huh.”

“What do you remember?” Lance asked, as he searched over the ground. “And where’s Akira?”

Keith froze, then breathed out a sigh of relief when the kitten perked out of a drawer on the nightstand that was open. He meowed, blinking up at the two of them.

“Got drunk. Was at the pool. Started talking about Akira’s sentience and then….nothing. Blackout,” Keith said, shaking his head. “What about you?”

Lance frowned, energy swirling with a muddy brown and blue. “Basically that. And…I don’t remember anything else. Do you think we….?”

He flushed with embarrassment, gesturing to the bed and then their obvious nakedness. Keith felt his stomach drop out.

“I…uh, I don’t know. Do you feel anything…uh, in your…?” Keith tried to ask, vaguely gesturing to Lance’s backside.

Lance sucked in a breath, hand going to his lower back, now red as a tomato.

“Uh, no. I don’t. Do-uh, do you…?”

Keith shook his head. “I don’t have any hickeys either. But, that doesn’t mean something didn’t happen.”

Lance whined, hands going up to cover his face. “Great. This is just…awesome. Shit.”

Keith sighed, going over and sitting on the edge of the bed. “Are you feeling okay?”

“Yeah. Barely a headache. Don’t got much for hangovers,” he said, shrugging. “You?”

Keith shrugged. “I’ll live. But, uh, about…”

Lance wrapped his arms around his chest, protectively. “You don’t actually think….anything really happened, do you?”

Keith ran a hand over his face, exhausted. “I don’t know. I’ve never been blackout drunk before. Have you?”

Lance shrugged again. “Once or twice. Except Hunk was always there to get me back home. Nothing ever happened. I’m apparently an emotional drunk rather than slutty.”

Keith huffed a chuckle. “Maybe nothing happened. Maybe we just got back here from the pool and didn’t want to get anything wet and took off our bathing suits. We’d been sharing the bed, so it might have just been a convenience thing. I don’t think I would have been down to bed you like that even that blackout.”

“What? Really? I’m _that_ unfuckable?” Lance asked, dead pan.

Keith clicked his tongue, lightly smacking Lance’s leg under the covers.

“Not what I meant. If I want something to happen, I make sure the other person knows, stone cold sober. I don’t deal with all that drunken messy situations. It’s too complicated,” he said, shaking his head. “I’m sure that even _me_ being the drunken mess wouldn’t change that.”

Lance’s face turned more insecure, as well as his now brighter aura. “You think so?”

Keith shrugged. “If you want to know for sure, we could probably look through the castle’s surveillance systems to see if we talked about anything outside of the room.”

Lance sucked in a lip, then nodded slowly. “I want to know for sure.”

Keith nodded back. “Take a shower. I’m going to go back to my room and…uh, get myself together. Then we meet on the bridge in half a varga, alright?”

Lance laid a careful hand on his shoulder. “Uh, i-if something did happen, uh…”

Keith noticed a strong apprehension from Lance. He reached up and entwined their fingers.

“Then…we deal with it. We talk about it. I don’t…” he tried not to feel any panic. “I don’t want this to ruin our-our….well, whatever we’re becoming. We…have connecting minds. For forever. Things will…happen. Along the way.”

Lance pursed his lips, then nodded.

“Okay. Yeah, o-okay.”

Keith was glad to have the remnants of the chlorine and late night washed away. He dressed in comfortable clothes, then checked the communicator.

Combat mission in five vargas. Great.

He never expected to have to go a combat mission while hungover, but there’s a first time for everything.

He walked back through the hallways with Akira on his shoulder and onto the bridge. Lance was already there, typing away on the holoscreen, flitting through the cameras. His energy pulsed with anxiety and trepidation.

Keith tried to keep from feeling worse about himself, as it was obvious that Lance really hated the idea of sleeping with him apparently.

“It’s not that,” Lance said, turning around and sighing.

Keith startled, wondering if Lance actually heard that.

Lance gestured to the cameras and ran an exhausted hand through his hair.

“I don’t…it’s not that I hate it. I didn’t want for…things to go like this,” Lance said, quietly. “I don’t…we don’t even remember it.”

Keith’s heart surged with what felt suspiciously like hope. He walked forward, taking Lance’s face into his hands. Lance’s eyes widened and he stuttered out a breath. Their energies converged like a wave of emotion.

“What did you want? For things to go?” Keith asked, so quiet it was like he was whispering.

Lance hesitated, then slowly raised a hand to entwine their fingers on his face.

“I…wanted this whole thing. Where we were in some romantic spot…together. Our minds all open and honest with each other. Maybe I’d have made a picnic. And…then in the middle of it, I’d confess. I’d say…”

_“I love you so much, Akira!”_

They both startled apart, looking up at the holoscreen. Keith blinked as the pool was projected, zoomed in on a scene of the two of them. Akira was sitting between them and they were both clutching onto the tiger.

_“You really love him?”_

Keith glanced over to present Lance, who was looking at it, with rapt attention.

“Do you remember this?” Keith asked, quietly.

Lance shook his head, biting at his lower lip.

_“I can’t be a single dad!”_

Keith’s mouth twitched at Lance’s drunk ramblings.

_“You’ll never be a single dad. I’ll be here for you forever. Our heads are connected forever.”_

“Well that’s good to know if I ever get pregnant,” Lance muttered, smirking.

_“Did you know that….I love you, Keith? Have you felt that? Do you feel that?”_

Lance tensed next to him, energy stuttering with alarm. His bright blue eyes sparkled with emotion. He sucked in a hard breath.

But Keith knew that there was no way that if Lance said it, he wouldn’t say it back, which is why he relaxed. Because immediately after, the drunk him said:

_“I love you too, Lance. So much. We’re…. **soulmates.”**_

Lance whipped to look at him and Keith turned back, shrugging.

“Yeah. That about sums it up, I think.”

Lance’s lip quivered, energy pulsing a bright magenta pink.

“Oh, shit. _That’s_ what pink means,” Keith said, eyes widening with realization.

Lance rolled his eyes and just grabbed Keith’s hand and pulled him in. Their lips met and suddenly their chests exploded behind their eyes. It was like they finally wrenched away the final wall that kept them from finally seeing into each other’s minds.

Colors. There were so _many_ colors.

The entire color wheel swirled. Keith’s bright red passion and intensity, Lance’s soft blue intelligence and cool exterior. The inner colors, Keith’s midnight blue and purple fear of being rejected yet again, Lance’s dark navy and dull grey, the harsh insecurity and deep-rooted inferiority complex. The yellows and oranges that switched between them.

And the bright, loving _pink._

They sprang apart, breathing hard at the sudden, overwhelming emotions. They blinked at each other in shock.

“Woah,” they said in unison.

“Well great.”

They whipped around to look at the entire team standing in the doorway, led by Pidge, who was smirking at them.

“Looking at _fond_ memories?” she asked, pointing up at the holoscreen.

They turned just as their drunk selves laid on the floor, continuing to shout about what they loved about each other. Lance flushed, then scrambled to type away and turn off the projection.

Keith cringed and waved at them. “Uh…hey? There’s been some developments?”

Shiro gave him the most withering look. Keith deflated.

“Yeah we know. Does stumbling down the halls, screaming about how much you love each other ring any bells?” Pidge said, snickering.

Lance and Keith looked at each other. They grimaced together.

“Uh…no? Actually it kind of…doesn’t?” Lance said, shrugging.

Shiro sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Oh that’s just perfect. Getting blackout drunk? Really?”

“Do you happen to know…uh, what happened?” Keith asked, embarrassed.

“Well,” Hunk stepped forward, chuckling a little. “We were just hanging out, doing our thing. Then suddenly we hear a very loud announcement. We find you two, all wet and stumbling about, hanging over each other. You start yelling about how you’re in love and yadda yadda. Akira was just jumping about behind you, it was really funny. We tried to get you to go to your rooms, but Keith kept resisting and saying that he wanted to sleep in Lance’s room. Shiro was about to burst a blood vessel, but then Keith said something about he would never tarnish your guys’ first time by being drunk. Lance got all sappy and said he loved you. Again. Then you guys walked in Lance’s room, immediately stripped, which made Pidge scream and run out. Then you went right to sleep.”

Both of them relaxed, sighing with relief. That made the rest of the team laugh, except Allura and Shiro. Although Allura hid an amused smile behind her hand.

“You guys totally thought you did it, didn’t you?” Pidge asked, walking in and falling into her chair. “Don’t worry. You didn’t. Shiro would rip off Lance’s head if you did.”

Shiro crossed his arms, looking incredibly unamused. “That was irresponsible and reckless of you two. You put the whole team and Voltron in jeopardy.”

Lance rolled his eyes. “It was my fault. I talked Keith into it. It was my responsibility.”

Keith took his hand, shutting off the self-sacrifice. “Hey, it’s not his fault. Things got out of hand. Don’t go into him like that. And we’re fine. Won’t happen again.”

“See that it doesn’t,” Shiro said, walking in and shutting off the holoscreen. “Now sit. We got a briefing.”

Lance glared daggers at Shiro. “By the way, Keith is completely fine after nearly dying from the separation. If you _cared_ to know.”

Keith tensed further, as Shiro’s gaze shot to Keith. He looked away, rubbing at his arm.

“I really am fine. Nothing to worry about. I probably…just got sick from something else.”

Lance crossed his arms and grumbled under his breath. “Yeah right.”

“I’m glad to see you up on your feet. Now sit. Briefing.”

It was said with a finality and a careful distance. It made Keith both grieve and feel angry. He didn’t know how to process it.

They sit at their seats on the opposite sides of the room, still using their tendrils to make sure the other was okay. Lance was still on a sort of high from the confession earlier but had an edge of anxiety.

Keith tried to comfort him while in the briefing. Gave him a promise to talk all of it over later.

“If everyone stays _focused,_ then everything will go according to plan,” Shiro said, still unamused as ever.

“This is an important mission, everyone. No room for error,” Allura added, showing the planet they were going to. “This is where the Galra have kept their confiscated tech from around the empire. If we can disable their developments, we can keep them from using it to advance their own technology.”

“So no messing around. We go in with small teams. Allura and I will take the center, the galra base. Pidge and Keith will take the far side. The most damaged tech. She’ll need cover while she works to get any information she can. Hunk and Lance take the docking fleet. Heavy fire to keep them landed. Any questions?”

It didn’t escape either of Keith or Lance’s notice that this plan put them on opposite sides of the planet.

Keith’s hand clenched.

“No sir,” they all sounded, unwilling to speak against it.

Keith wished he wasn’t so much of a coward.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> please drink responsibly my little klance sluts....
> 
> also I'm currently conflicted...i had wanted to keep the rating at Teen and Up, just because so much of this is in fact really fluffy...but I have some really fun smut ideas that could actually BE part of the plot...so I'm once again asking your input...
> 
> Would you rather have this include those scenes and up the rating, or would you want it in a separate part??


	22. Chapter 22

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Garrison cadets all have a chat while Lance is Protective of Keith

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, order in the court! *slams down gavel* The council has made its decision!
> 
> I have decided to KEEP the rating at Teen and Up, separating the smut scenes into a different work  
> HOWEVER I still think I should allude to what happens in the main, so I'll be trying something I haven't done before, which will be some good tasteful fade to black, non-explicit descriptions of how the bond interacts with intimacy   
> Those that don't want to read those moments I can just leave an easy note at the end of those chapters telling what happened

Lance wanted the down time with Keith to be easy and comfortable, so that they had enough time to work through their hangovers. Hunk offered to cook them up something good and greasy.

“So you two are now a romantic bond? Has it changed or has it always been romantic?” Hunk asked, flipping over the alien bacon.

Keith and Lance hummed in unison at the island, Pidge snorting at the reaction as she sat on the counter next to Hunk cooking.

“The weird twin telepathy thing you have going on is both unnerving and also hilarious,” she said, giving them a strange snarky smile.

Lance ignored her. “It’s…different now. But, it’s always kind of…flowed depending on the developments. It changed a little when we first started experimenting, it changed more when we told Coran and Shiro, it changed again when we initiated more hugging and physical affection, then again with the separation. It even changed a little when Akira popped into existence. When the person decides they want to change themselves, the bond morphs with that.”

Keith looked over with surprise. “Uh, yeah…I guess it has. I don’t think I noticed that so much. I can barely keep up with the emotions in the present.

Lance chuckled, reaching over to affectionately curl his fingers in the ends of Keith’s hair. It was an instinctual move, fueled by the left over high of confession and overwhelming love and adoration. He settled his head on his palm on the counter. Keith seemed to fall right into it, leaning into Lance’s hand. They both didn’t even realize that Keith started purring aloud again.

Hunk whipped around at the sound, looking over the ground for Akira. When he noticed that Akira was still off snoozing in Lance’s room that he slowly turned to stare as Keith and Lance were still locked in a fond bubble.

“Holy shit…” Pidge whispered.

Lance snapped out of it, anxiety spiking. He ripped his hand away and stared at Hunk and Pidge’s wide eyes. Keith furrowed his brows in confusion. His aura was still wrapped up in the haze of pink to notice the others.

“Hey okay…whatever you’re thinking….” Lance warned, protective of the new physical manifestation of Keith’s comfort and vulnerability.

“Keith _purrs?!”_ Hunk practically yelled.

Keith whirled around, face turning bright fire engine red. His aura stuttered with humiliation and fear. Lance scrambled to his feet to block Keith from view on the other side, wrapping him up in a hug. He took initiative to bury his face in Lance’s chest. He turned to glare at his teammates over his shoulder.

“Don’t you dare make fun of him. He’s sensitive about it and then he’ll try to suppress it. You heard _nothing,_ got it?” He said, threateningly.

It was almost said in actual seriousness. Lance would rather die than for Keith to get too worried about how embarrassing it was that there was that level of Galra in him that he made himself sick yet again trying to suppress something that resonated his vulnerability.

Pidge’s eyebrows shot up in surprise by how protective Lance was being, before huffing and nudging Hunk to continue cooking.

“Fine. We didn’t hear anything,” she said, casually.

Lance sighed in relief, stepping back from Keith. He raised his head from where he was tucked under Lance’s chin with wide, surprised eyes. Lance patted him gently on the top of his head.

He sat back down in his seat and took a long drink from his space coffee. Keith only glanced at him, aura loosely swirling in non-distinct colors.

“So, here I’m just wondering for scientific purposes…if you started out as a platonic bond and then changed over time into a romantic bond…does that mean it could someday change back? Like how some people get married but then realize they are better off as friends? Or is this the new permanent thing?” Pidge wondered aloud, with her iconic thoughtful face.

“Maybe…” Keith said, tilting his head to contemplate it. “Coran said that he and his wife started out as friends because they were bonded as kids…but I think in the end it all depends on the people involved. There were a lot of bonds between siblings, too. So it doesn’t have to be romantic all the time. For us…”

He turned to look at Lance, who smiled at him warmly. Keith relaxed into an affectionate expression, still a little embarrassed.

“I’m comfortable thinking that this is forever.”

Lance had to suck in his bottom lip to keep from letting him get so carried away with that and _squeal_ in joy. He quickly surged into Keith’s space, smacking a noisy kiss on his cheek. Keith chuckled, turning his head and capturing Lance’s lips in a sweet embrace. They separated and grinned at each other, lost in the happy colors.

“Oh, quiznack me, this is going to get ridiculous, isn’t it?” Pidge muttered, feigning a gag.

Hunk shushed her with a look, sighing with a hand over his heart. “If anyone deserves to be happy like that…it’s those two.”

Lance glanced at his best friend and gave him a wink. Hunk finger gunned at him back, then plated the food.

“Here you both go. We’ll leave you two to talk some more. We’ve got some projects to finish,” he said, kindly. “And…I really am happy for you two.”

Keith’s aura warmed from the core out, turning a gentle yellow and mix of red. Lance nearly cried at how sweet and soft Keith was for Lance’s best friend.

“Thank you, Hunk. You’ve been really nice. I’m…glad you’re my friend,” Keith said, shyly.

Hunk’s eyes widened, then he sucked in a breath, waving at his face. “Oh, gods, buddy you’re going to make me _cry.”_

He swept Keith up in a gentle hug, making Keith’s aura swirl in fondness and warmth. Lance melted into a smile, glad that Keith was finally opening up more to the rest of the team, too.

“Bonded Keith is so _nice_ , I love it so much,” Hunk said, sniffling.

Keith grumbled only a little, patting Hunk on the back. Pidge’s mouth twitched into a reluctant smile, before sliding off the counter and saluting at Lance.

“Alright, things are getting way too mushy for me here. I’m glad you two aren’t constantly bickering anymore and really that’s it, nothing else to say. If you make out in front of me ever…I will program your communicators to shock you until you only associate kissing with pain like pavlovian dogs,” she said and without another word exited the room.

Hunk and Keith separated to stare at the closed door. Lance gaped at her back, actually a little offended by that.

“What a _rude_ little girl…”

Hunk shook his head. “Don’t blame her. She’s having the hardest time, I think. With, uh, well…Shiro being as he is right now. Matt and Shiro were on the Kerberos mission together and he’s been a really steady brother figure for her since Matt’s been missing. She doesn’t like having distrust in his judgement.”

Keith sighed, suddenly losing his happier energy. “I don’t exactly like how it’s been going either. It’s not our fault Shiro’s being kind of annoying.”

Lance scoffed, unamused. “Yeah, you could say that’s the understatement of the millennium. I’m getting real sick and tired of that guy butting into our personal business. He’s literally Keith’s actual brother here and Keith has gotten the worst of it all.”

“Lance…” Keith warned, tiredly.

“It’s true! And you won’t even admit it!” Lance continued, throwing his hands up. “You’re not even mad at him, even though you almost _died_ on that mission! Bullshit, if you ask me.”

Keith glanced at him, then sighed again. Hunk looked at them both with a concerned expression.

“You’re really that mad at him?” Hunk asked Lance directly.

“Of course, I am!” Lance said, getting angrier. “He’s done nothing but condescend to us, as if we have no idea what we’re doing! We didn’t _choose_ to be psychically bonded! It just happened! And yet, he’s acting as if we’re suddenly doing something wrong! Especially to Keith. It’s like he doesn’t even want Keith to be happy!”

“It’s not that simple, Lance. You know that,” Keith interjected, narrowing his eyes. “Yes, he’s not exactly…making the best decisions for us…but, it’s not like he _wants_ to hurt us. He just…doesn’t understand. What if this had happened to two of the others? You’d be way weirded out. It’s not the same as saying he…”

Keith sighed, squeezing his eyes shut. “I…I _know_ he trusts us….”

Lance felt through the bond. And he huffed when he could pick out the anxiety at Keith’s core, burning like an inferno.

He was lying.

Hunk looked between them, getting more and more uncomfortable.

“So…uh…I’ll just leave you two to talk it out.”

Hunk awkwardly left, leaving Lance and Keith alone. Lance didn’t _mean_ to get all angry and irritated about Shiro, but he just couldn’t help it. Shiro was royally pissing him off.

They ate in silence for a bit, lost in their own thoughts for the first time in a while. Lance got more and more antsy.

“Look, I’m sorry. I know you don’t really like me bad-mouthing Shiro. But, it’s just getting harder and harder to ignore here. He’s interfering too much and it’s affecting the team dynamic. Everything would just be fine if he would back off,” Lance said, turning to Keith.

Keith’s energy settled into sad and upset. It moved like inky trails of tears across a face and tasted like dust and loneliness.

“I know. You’re right. What happened with the separation wasn’t good. And I don’t like that he’s still trying the same bullshit with the mission pairs later. But…I know he has his heart in the right place. He’s never steered me wrong before. And…I mean, things only started going wrong because of…well, me. I became…weird and wrong and soft. _I_ was the one that made him uncomfortable. I just need to be stronger. If I keep my head on straight, then it’ll be fine. Shiro will understand that it’s not something to be worried about. We just need to focus on the mission and get through it.”

Lance had to resist every urge he had to start going _batshit_ at how Keith was s _till_ blaming _himself_ for everything. No matter what it was…Keith somehow managed to twist it to make it his own fault.

“How can you just sit there and let Shiro walk all over you? You’re _Keith Kogane!_ You punched Commander Iverson in the face! You don’t let anyone mess with you! You didn’t even let _my_ bullshit bickering get in your way!” Lance argued, revving up.

Lance slammed his hand on the counter in frustration.

“Shiro. Is. Wrong!”

“I’m the one that’s wrong!” Keith said, getting riled up himself. “I’m the one that needs to change! Shiro is just looking out for me! I’m the angry, reckless nobody orphan! Shiro just wants what’s best for me!”

Lance let out a cry of frustration, hands thrown in the air. “This is ridiculous. You’re basically delusional at this point. You can’t see past your glorifying idol worship.”

“You promised to let me handle him. And I will. This is going to be fine. I’ll find a way to make it fine,” Keith said, desperately.

He wanted to argue more, but he _did_ make a promise.

“Fine. Whatever. Then we do the mission and stick to our guns. Focus on it,” Lance said, quietly.

“Lance…I’m sorry. I know that this is really bothering you. I promise that I’ll find a way to prove to Shiro that I can do this. That _we_ can do this. Shiro’s my responsibility. He’s my brother,” Keith said, grabbing Lance’s arm.

“It’s just…everything would be so _good_ and we’d be so… _happy_ without him interfering. And seeing what that separation did to you? To _us?_ Jesus, Keith…we were _colorblind._ I’ve never been so scared of the black and white before. And then you got so sick and it just…”

Lance deflated and felt a harsh sadness envelope his senses. It could have been either of them, really.

“It just _sucks.”_

“I know. I know all of that. I swear, I _promise_ things will get better. I’ll find a way,” Keith insisted, squeezing his arm.

Lance analyzed Keith’s desperate face and rolling emotions, then nodded, arranging their arms to move to holding hands. He entwined their fingers and squeezed. Keith’s rolling melancholy energy settled somewhat into something more stable.

“We’re in this together. As much as I want to punch and kick Shiro for how much he’s hurt you for these past few weeks, I know that’ll only make you feel worse. So, I’m letting this one go. Whatever you decide in the end that needs to happen…then that’ll be your choice,” Lance said, giving Keith a small supportive smile.

Keith breathed out, relieved. “Thank you. That means a lot to me. I _promise_ I won’t let anything happen again. This mission probably won’t even be a problem. It’s not like we’re galaxies away from each other again. It’s just one mission. We’ll see what happens when we go from there.”

Lance had a feeling things weren’t going to be that easy. They never were.

“I hope you’re right.”


	23. Chapter 23

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The mission...

“So, Lance. You really got yourself and Keith drunk and confessed? That was your big romantic plan?” Hunk asked, smirking at him.

Lance rolled his eyes. “Just stick to the mission, will you?”

They were heading down to the planet in Yellow, while Lance brooded in the back. He was thinking he really did absorb some of Keith’s temperament a little. The conversation before with Keith really threw him off.

Hunk gave him a look, then shrugged. “Alright then.”

The planet was an empty, metal planet. Scrap heaps were everywhere, full of dust and not any heat outside the warming core. The docking bay the Galra was using as a transferring bay in which they drop off tech and leave was Lance and Hunk’s target. Destroy their ships and trap the scientists on the surface.

They landed and they got to work immediately. The docking bay had open runways and a full track to accept the ships oncoming, with a shipping yard leading from the main hangar. Lance and Hunk headed out, already pulling attention from the sentinels in the docking bay.

They transformed their bayards into their heavy-weight guns, blasting down the ships. This unfortunately pulled the attention of the sentinels from the shipping yard, too.

“You get the ships. I got the robots!” Lance yelled out to Hunk.

“You got it, be careful!”

Lance leapt over the fence around the docking bay into the shipyard and knelt down, taking out as many sentinels as possible. He ducked down as way more fire came down on him and he tried to breathe through the intensity of the battle.

He turned back and with laser focus, aimed for heads and guns. A rogue group pulled his attention, going around the other side, aiming their guns at Hunk.

“Hunk! Look out!”

Hunk wheeled around as Lance sprinted. Hunk yelled out in alarm, hiding down behind a smoking ship and Lance aimed his gun to take out the group as he moved.

It worked enough, but the number one rule of being a sharpshooter is not pull attention to himself.

And Lance was out in the open, pulling much attention to himself.

He should have _known_ this was all going to go wrong within minutes.

It hit him in the side.

The whiplash turned him around entirely. He went down to his knees, off-kilter. He yelled out, as he held his right side, just under his ribs.

“Lance!” Hunk screamed in alarm.

Lance gritted his teeth against the pain and ducked as more fire converged above his head.

“Get going! Finish the job!” Lance yelled, stumbling back to his feet and fighting against the dizziness from the pain.

He breathed hard and intense as he found a metal scrap heap to fall against and let his legs lose their strength. He groaned as he looked down at the leaking wound.

Lance gasped as he completely forgot about Keith. He put his walls up, iron clad and with locks and chains. He didn’t want him to feel this.

That made him all cold again and he shivered, just left with his pain.

“Shit…”

He heard as Hunk blasted down the rest of the ships. He mentally measured how far he was from the yellow lion. Too far.

He cursed again.

The comms in his ear sputtered to life.

“What the hell happened, Lance?” Keith’s angry voice came over. “I felt whatever the hell that was.”

Lance clicked his tongue. “Nothing you need to worry about, sweetheart. Just a graze.”

“Then why won’t you let me back in?” Keith asked, not buying that for a second.

He grimaced, as it seemed like his hiding spot was found and he felt the barrage of shots against the metal behind him. He ducked down farther.

“Can’t talk now, just-just finish the mission. I’ll be fine.”

He turned in his spot to kneel and shoot at the now actual furry Galra coming after him. Hunk was now so far away while shooting down the ships that Lance was definitely on his own.

Lance shot down five more sentinels and two Galra when he had to abandon his spot again, when they got too close.

He turned tail and ran as hard as he could, which was actually very hard because he was still you know. _Shot._

He hissed a breath when he felt another shot to his left calf, making his stumble and yell again. He made sure to keep his walls up as much as he could, cutting Keith off. He panted under the stress, checking behind him to see just how utterly fucked he was.

Five galra. The big furry kind. The ones that could kill him without breaking a sweat.

Lance cursed again, then took the chance to activate his new sword, getting into a low defensive position.

The galra converged on him and he fought as hard as he could.

Which wasn’t very hard. Because you know. _Still shot._

He took down two, incredibly, then took a knife to the arm. He whimpered.

“Lance! Damn it, get away from him!”

Hunk came pounding over splitting up the concrete around the Galra half-circle, they all scattered. Lance fell to the ground in relief.

Hunk quickly came over, kneeling and picking Lance up, bridal style. Lance yelled out in pain, tears leaking down his face.

“Gods, Lance, are you okay?” Hunk asked as he ran back to the yellow lion.

Lance curled up in his arms, whimpering and shook his head. “Do I _look_ okay? I’m barbecued. Just get me to the healing pod. _Now_. Keith must be fucked.”

Hunk looked at him, completely alarmed. “O-okay.”

The yellow lion quickly ate them up, Hunk settling him on the ground behind the seat and spinning around.

“I’ll tell the team. We’ll call off the rest.”

“No!” Lance said, loudly. Hunk jumped, looking back at him with wide eyes.

The sudden movement made him groan as his many injuries screamed in pain and he curled back into himself.

“What? We need to call it off!” Hunk said, incredulous.

“No. We need to finish. Don’t-don’t tell them. It’ll distract Keith. Shiro’s already-,”

He cut himself off as his walls wobbled. He squeezed his eyes shut, focusing on keeping Keith out of his head.

“Just. Tell them we’re done and get us to the castle. Ask if they need backup, then go back out. Say that I’m staying behind to, whatever I don’t know…uh, help Coran. Just _go.”_

Hunk pursed his lips. “What-I-I don’t know about this. Lance if I don’t-,”

“Hunk, you’re my best friend. I love you to pieces. Just-just trust me on this, okay?”

He kept an important eye contact on Hunk for only a tick more. Hunk’s nervous expression wavered and then he sighed, turning back around.

“Fine.”

He called the team up, putting on a fake calm voice of victory.

“Me and Lance are done. Lance is…fine, Keith. He wanted me to tell you that. We’re going back up to the castle. Lance needs a…small patch job.”

Keith’s voice immediately came on. “I want to talk to Lance. Where is he?”

Lance sighed. He should have seen that one coming. He turned on the comms in his helmet.

“Keith. I’m fine. Just trust me okay? Get the mission done and we can talk about everything later. I-I love you.”

There was a pause. “Fine. I love you, too. I’ll see you later.”

He let out a long sigh of relief, finally relaxing. Hunk piloted out into space.

Lance felt himself slipping. He tried to hold onto consciousness, even as his wounds throbbed and his head did too. He didn’t know what would happen to Keith if he went unconscious. His walls would go down and he’d feel everything.

“Hunk. Talk to me. Keep me awake.”

“Oh, uh, okay. Uh, so uh, you love Keith?” Hunk said, voice shuddering.

Lance groaned. “Yes. Now, move on. I’m trying to keep Keith _out_ of my head.”

“Right, obviously. Uh, okay. So, this morning? Me and Pidge, we were saying that if the war got won before we all turned twenty-one, like what would that look like? Would we still be kept out of like bars and clubs? That’d be weird, right?”

Lance frowned. “Huh? That’s what you were talking about?”

“You were walking around drunk, Lance. It came up how you’re just eighteen and Keith is just nineteen.”

Lance rolled his eyes. “They wouldn’t keep us out of anywhere. We’d be Voltron. Universe legends. No way we wouldn’t be able to get into bars. And who knows? We might die before we turn twenty-one, anyway.”

The yellow lion shook a tiny bit, making Lance yell out in pain.

“Dude! You ever learn to pilot or what?” Lance asked, groaning.

_“Don’t.”_

Lance looked over in alarm, as Hunk was shaking a little. He had to purpose to concentrate on his walls being stable again.

“What-Hunk?”

“Don’t joke about that. Not-not while you’re….” Hunk said, voice shaking. “Just-just don’t, okay?”

Lance blinked at Hunk’s completely different tone. He never sounded like that.

“Yeah…o-okay. Alright, I’m-I’m sorry.”

Hunk nodded from his chair, finally docking. Lance let him pick him up again, hurrying down the ramp and down the hallway into the med bay. It was empty and Lance breathed a sigh of relief.

“Help me get into the outfit,” Lance said, feeling the consciousness slipping. “Fast.”

Hunk stripped him to his underwear and then breathed out in shock at seeing his many injuries in full.

“Quiznack, Lance….”

“Healing pod now. Altean expletives later.”

In no time, he was stepping into the pod and Hunk set it to cryochambers and he felt himself fall back into sleep.

When he came to, he fell forward just as the usual after a healing pod trip into waiting arms.

He rejoiced at feeling Keith’s aura over his mind like a warm embrace, just as Keith actually embraced him. He felt Keith’s overwhelming concern and exhaustion, as though he had been up for days.

“Lance. Hey, are you okay?” Keith asked, quietly.

He hummed, looking down at himself and back up at Keith’s eyes. They were all stormy and clouded with worry. He reached up and cupped Keith’s cheeks. He felt over all his previously screaming injuries and didn’t feel any pain.

“Yeah, yeah I’m just fine. All healed up, no worries,” Lance said, sighing. “Are you okay? Did you-did you feel it?”

Keith shrugged, energy pulsing with the edges of a harsh memory.

Lance hissed a breath. “You did. Shit. I’m so sorry, Keith. I tried…”

Keith shook his head, wrapping his arms around Lance and settling against his chest. Lance accepted the hug and sighed.

“What-where’s everyone else?” Lance asked. “How long was I out?”

“You’ve been out for nearly a day cycle. And…I might have locked the door and banned everyone else,” Keith said, muffled in Lance’s shoulder.

Lance froze. “Huh? What? Why?”

Keith stepped back, energy now rolling with anger and spite. It was bright harsh red, tasting like burnt paper and smoking cigarettes. His expression darkened and his hands clenched.

“It’s their fault. For splitting us up. We should have been partnered. Hunk could have easily covered Pidge and you and I have the best partner stats in the team. This wouldn’t have happened if it wasn’t for them. For…for _Shiro.”_

Lance breathed a deep sigh. “Let them in, will you? It’s not the rest of the team’s fault.”

Keith gave him a look. Energy rolled with disbelief.

“Okay. Maybe it’s a _little_ Shiro’s fault. But, not the rest of them. It’s not like we spoke against his plan either. Come on. Hunk saw me go down. It’s the least I can do to show him I’m fine.”

Keith relaxed, nodding. “Alright, let’s get you changed. And then we can go get you food in the kitchens. Hunk should be in there. We can fill you in on everything that happened after you stayed up in the castle.”

Lance smiled in relief. “Okay. Sounds good.”

“Oh, Lance. Thank gods you’re okay!” Hunk said, hurrying over and sweeping Lance up in a hug.

Lance felt a pang of guilt at how he talked to Hunk before. He squeezed extra hard in apology.

“Sorry for…well the whole thing, buddy. You didn’t deserve any of that,” Lance said, into Hunk’s shoulder.

Hunk sighed. “It’s already forgotten. Don’t worry about it.”

Lance stepped back and Keith wrapped an arm around his waist. Lance looked over at him and smiled a little.

Hunk, however, looked at Keith a little warily. Keith seemed to notice and Lance felt Keith’s tendrils spike around with his own guilt.

“Uh, sorry from me, too. I-I didn’t mean what I said. At least…aimed at you. It wasn’t your fault,” Keith said, quietly and looking to the ground.

“Huh? What’d you say?” Lance asked, confused.

Hunk shook his head. “You don’t have to worry about it, either. We’ve been…we’ve _all_ been so selfish and harsh to you two. We’ve pushed and shoved and we’ve misunderstood. Keith was right with what he said.”

“Still…not hearing what it is Keith said? Was it bad?” Lance asked again, looking down at Keith, who looked away. His energy pulsed with trepidation and fear.

It was colored strangely. Like the color of deep, dank water.

“I’ll tell you about it later,” Keith muttered. “I won’t keep it from you.”

Lance blinked in surprise. He wasn’t actually thinking Keith would tell him if it was that bad. He looked at Hunk, with a questioning look.

Hunk shrugged. “I’m not mad at Keith. But…it was pretty brutal.”

Keith grimaced, leaning closer into Lance. He wrapped an arm around Keith’s shoulders. Lance tried to send as calming and reassuring tendrils through the bond.

“Okay. Well uh, I’m gonna get some food goo and then get the low-down from Keith.”

Hunk nodded. “Well, uh, the rest are in there. So…you know. Just so you know.”

Keith took a deep breath, glancing to Lance. He squeezed his shoulders.

“If you want. I can take the goo in our room,” Lance said, quietly.

Keith shook his head. “It’s fine. Let’s-let’s go.”

The entire team stuttered to a stop as soon as they saw the two of them walk in. Shiro’s eyes hardened, Allura looked nervous, Pidge looked uncomfortable with the new atmosphere and Coran was…absent.

“Ah, hey. Uh…what’s everyone talking about?” Lance said, nervously.

Shiro and Keith held their gazes, hard and unyielding to each other. Lance looked between them, anxiously. Yeah, Lance was mad at Shiro, too…but there was a real, deep-seated wrath between the two brothers. It was a palpable animosity. Something had obviously snapped.

Lance sat down and started to eat.

“So, anything new?” Lance asked, casually.

Pidge gave him a look. “Really? You’re trying to act natural in the middle of this?”

Lance rolled his eyes. “Yes, yes, we’re all uncomfortable. I get it. But, I was the one shot twice and then stabbed, remember? I think at that point, what I say goes. And I say, it’s all fine.”

Shiro looked at him, critically. “I’m glad to see you’re up on your feet.”

It was exactly what he said to Keith after the drunken escapade. It made Lance burn on the inside. Keith’s edge of bright hard protective color wrapped around him. Lance smiled, a complete show.

“Good to be back.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's the absolute best to read comments like "oh what if blah blah blah happened? oh sorry that's way too sadistic, I don't know why i said that..."  
> And its literally exactly what's about to happen. shout out to those comments on the last chapter lmao
> 
> Also sharpen your pitchforks kids. NOW we're on a Shiro hunt


	24. Chapter 24

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith finally snaps

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo okay so these next few chapters were a BITCH to write, just because its so angsty and sad and hard to write family squabbles...  
> But here it is. Hope it does okay...

Keith felt the hit to Lance like it had been his own.

He was protecting Pidge in the more darker and older pieces of technology on the far side of the planet. The bond was stretched thin at that point, so there was only tastes of emotions. A wisp of color.

Until Lance must have been shot in his side.

Keith cried out, holding his side from the phantom pain and went to his knees. He panted as the pain throbbed and his head swirled with dark black navy.

Lance was in trouble.

“Keith? Woah, what happened? No one’s out here!” Pidge said, turning around. “Who got you?”

Keith shook his head, groaning at the pain. “It’s Lance. Something happened.”

Pidge’s face drained of color. She ran over and knelt by his side.

“You felt it? Jesus, that’s crazy. Okay, uh, what-,”

Keith froze when suddenly it went away. Like a shut off valve. A protective anger flared and he bared his teeth. He immediately turned on the comms.

“What the hell happened, Lance? I felt whatever the hell that was.”

Lance’s voice came in, sounding strained. “Nothing you need to worry about sweetheart. Just a graze.”

Keith scoffed. “Then why won’t you let me back in?”

“Can’t talk now, just-just finish the mission. I’ll be fine.”

_Bullshit_

“I need to go,” Keith said, standing up.

The comms came back to life. “Everyone stick to your stations. You heard Lance. He’s fine.”

He snarled, even more angry. “Shiro, he’s obviously faking. We need to call it off.”

“ _Everyone._ Stick to your stations. That’s an order.”

Keith stood, dumbfounded. He started to shake, losing every part of him that respected Shiro. Lance was obviously in pain and in trouble. Keith _felt_ it. And yet…Shiro just forced him to turn away.

_Damn it. Lance was right all along._

Pidge grabbed his arm. Her big eyes behind her glasses were wide and pleading.

“Listen. Maybe Lance is hurt. A little. But, you heard Allura. This needs to go down. We can…deal with it all later. This information may help everyone around the empire. We can’t get distracted. Lance said he was fine. So he’s probably fine,” she said, squeezing his arm.

Keith pursed his lips. “I can’t…I shouldn’t…”

“Come on,” Pidge said, more desperately. “I need to work and I can’t do it by myself.”

Keith reluctantly followed, sword coming out and protected Pidge.

The rest of the mission went by without any more than a few Galra coming along and Keith easily took them down. Each passing tick without Lance’s presence in his head made him more and more anxious.

“Gods, I want more stupid Galra. I want to hit something,” Keith muttered, angrily.

Pidge sighed, glancing at him. “Look. I’m sorry. For all the…uh, messing with the bond and everything. And for…maybe not actually listening to you more. After this mission, I swear. I’ll stick up for you two more.”

Keith looked over at her, then ruffled her hair. She squawked, indignantly.

“It’s fine. We didn’t even stick up for ourselves. That’s going to change for sure. Lance may not be hurt that much, but I’ll be damned if I let this happen again.”

Pidge chuckled. “Fair enough. Okay, I think I’ve got all I can from this piece of junk.”

“Anything good?” Keith asked, curious.

“Maybe. A few dilapidated ships ago there was a few interesting blips. Love me some interesting blips,” she said, nudging him a little.

Keith grinned at the joke.

“Come on, we’ve gotten everything taken care of around the planet. Time to come back in,” Shiro’s voice came in.

Keith breathed a sigh of relief. “On our way.”

He just wanted to make sure Lance was okay.

Lance wasn’t okay.

And Keith was _pissed._

“What the gods damn hell happened?” he yelled at Hunk.

Hunk shrunk back, flinching. “He told me to downplay it. He told me he didn’t want to jeopardize the mission.”

Keith growled, turning back to Lance in the healing pod, with blood all over. His heart seized in his chest, hating the idea he wasn’t there for it.

His hands clenched and he felt everything pulled like a rubber band, stretching and stretching.

“Didn’t want to jeopardize the mission?”

He looked over his shoulder and narrowed in on Shiro, who had his arms crossed, concerned.

“This is all your fault.”

Shiro grimaced, sighing. “Kiddo…”

And Keith _snapped._

_“ENOUGH! THAT’S IT!”_

He whipped around, then stalked right up to Shiro in his face.

“Shut up! Just fucking _shut up!_ Now and forever. Stop interfering. You said I only told you that you’re not my real dad when we fought? Well, here you go. Because it’s true. You’re. Not. My. _Father._ ”

He turned to the rest of the team, all cowering in their own way.

“All of you. You put Lance in danger. Because all of you are just too freaked out by something you don’t understand. We _all_ knew the teams were a bad call. But no one said anything because big important _Takashi Shirogane_ was the one in charge. Well you ask me? It was bullshit. And no more. No _fucking m_ ore.”

He basically growled at Shiro, feeling so much more harsh, intense anger towards his brother than he ever had. Shiro was blinking in shock at his tone.

“Keith. You don’t speak that way to your team,” he said, in his annoying ‘big brother’ voice.

And usually, Keith would fall right into it. But, this time? It made him see his own red, hot anger reflected in his eyes. He backed up, then brought out his bayard.

“Get out. Now. All of you. None of you deserve to stay as if you _care_ about either me or Lance. I can’t believe I thought any of you could be my family.”

The entire team gaped in horror at that, Hunk actually looking on the verge of tears. Coran was sitting in the background, ruffling his mustache.

“Except Coran. All the rest of you. Out. _Now.”_

The team slowly trickled out. Shiro stood still, still staring at the bayard.

“Keith. You wouldn’t-,”

Keith activated it, swinging it forward, right in Shiro’s face.

“Try me. The other half of my _fucking_ soul is right in that pod. And it’s your fault. So, I _dare_ you. I have a lot of pent up frustration and anger to take out on something, because I saw maybe two Galra on that mission while Lance saw dozens,” he said, shaking with unrelenting fury.

Keith couldn’t help a tear overflowing over his eye, tracking down his face. Shiro’s resolve flickered at that, probably shocked at seeing Keith cry for the first time in years. His sword dropped and he started pacing in front of Lance’s pod, emotions clouding over him.

“I have stuck up for you this entire time. I kept Lance from blaming you because you’re…you’re my _brother._ And…I’ve _loved_ you. But, this? I…just… _how_ could you do this to us? To _me?”_

Shiro flinched, arms falling out of crossing them. “Keith, this isn’t…I’m not meaning…”

“I _told_ you to SHUT UP!”

Keith’s voice actually echoed over the room, bouncing off the metal walls. Shiro stepped back a little in shock. He stepped over to stand between Lance and Shiro. He slowly raised his sword again.

“Whatever you’re _meaning_ to do? I don’t care. It doesn’t matter. Because this is what you’ve done. You’ve _hurt_ both me and Lance.”

Shiro flinched a little again, eyes flicking up to where Lance’s blood still stained the outfit. Keith stepped closer to narrow his sword right at Shiro’s throat.

“That’s it. It’s over. You’re not even my real fucking _brother._ Right now, Shiro? I actually _hate_ you.”

Shiro’s face finally crumpled, despair written all over it. It pulled at Keith’s chest like a vice on his heart, but he stood his ground.

“Now. I will say this one more time. Get. _Out_.”

Shiro took one late glance up at Lance’s sleeping face, that made him soften even more. He turned and walked out. Coran stood at the holoscreen for Lance’s vitals and gave him a sorrowful look.

Keith’s eyes burned as he threw his bayard across the room and fell down to his knees, curling in on himself. He couldn’t help the overwhelming sobs.

Lance blinked open his eyes at the same time as Keith, with a pulsing aura filled with sorrow and pain. Lance was crying from the emotions overflowing from the memory share.

Keith let his head fall forward in shame. “I’m sorry. You must think I’m…I’m some kind of monster.”

“No, no, never,” Lance said, sniffling and cupping Keith’s cheeks. “I probably would have snapped too if it was you in the healing pod. You were right. They put us both in danger by not listening to you. Uh, to us. But, uh, maybe it was…a little harsh. To the team, at least.”

Keith grimaced, shuddering out a breath. “I just saw you so…and I knew that if I had listened to my instincts and what I wanted to do, then it wouldn’t have happened. If I wasn’t…so much of a _coward_ before, in front of Shiro. You wouldn’t have gotten hurt.”

Lance gasped, affronted. His energy put a forefront of righteous anger. It looked like a spiraling red sunset.

“Excuse- _coward?_ Stop, okay? Enough of that. Keith, uh I don’t know your middle name, Kogane, you are the bravest, most selfless being in the entire universe. What happened was not your fault and I will not sit here and let you call yourself something as horrible and wrong as a coward.”

Keith blinked. “R-really?”

Lance nodded, leaning forward and kissing Keith’s forehead. They settled into a hug, as Akira meowed from their laps. Lance chuckled into Keith’s hair.

“Jesus, even just Akira could have protected Pidge. That was such a stupid plan,” Lance muttered, irritated.

“You could say that again,” Keith said, sighing. He backed up and wiped away Lance’s tears. “Oh, and you’re never going to find out.”

Lance’s brows furrowed in confusion. “Find out about what?”

“You were wondering what my middle name is. And you’re never going to find out.”

Lance’s mouth dropped. “What? Why not? Keith! I thought we were soulmates!”

Keith smirked and shook his head. “No one gets to know my middle name, not even my soulmate.”

He pouted, puppy dog look on blast. “Come on, it can’t be that bad!”

“Oh yeah, then what’s yours?” Keith asked, and eyebrow up.

“Olivero,” Lance said, without hesitation. Keith dropped the teasing and blinked with surprise by his candor. “My parents wanted multiple names that could work as English names. Leandro Olivero Sanchez-McClain. Lance Oliver McClain.”

Keith sighed, rolling his eyes. “How can I keep arguing when you just…tell me that stuff? Not fair.”

Lance smiled, leaning forward and kissing Keith’s nose. “So, gonna tell me? Please? _Pretty_ please?”

Keith grimaced, trying to resist, even as Lance’s pretty blue eyes batted his pretty little eyelashes. He groaned, rolling his eyes again.

“Fine. One time. I will say it one time. No laughing. You will never repeat it. And after this, it will go back to me not having a middle name at all. Alright?” Keith said, holding up one finger.

Lance nodded quickly, putting a hand over his heart. “I swear on our soul bond.”

Keith pursed his lips, looking away, embarrassed.

“Keith… _Yorak…_ Kogane,” he muttered.

Lance blinked, eyes widening. He sucked in his lips, obviously trying not to laugh. He looked away, breathing deeply. Keith clicked his tongue, shoving him back.

“This is why no one knows. Even _Shiro_ doesn’t know. And he was my actual designated guardian for like three years,” he said, crossing his arms, petulantly.

Lance cleared his throat, shaking his head. “Do you see me laughing? It’s fine. It’s…uh, exotic?”

Keith scoffed. “Honestly I don’t know how I didn’t know I was part-Galra. I always thought that maybe my mother died of like some degenerative disease and she was shaking uncontrollably when she wrote it down on my birth certificate.”

“Come on, it’s not that bad. Plus, it’s…it’s a part of you. The Galra name and the Galra genes. So I love it,” Lance said, smiling kindly at him.

He felt through the bond, checking to see if Lance was lying. He wasn’t. It made him balk.

“You _like_ it?” Keith asked, incredulous.

Lance shrugged. “Okay, we’d really have to talk about it if you wanted to like…name your firstborn child that or something. But yeah, I’m okay with it.”

Keith snorted, shaking his head. “Yeah right. Terms still stand, though. _Never_ repeat it.”

Lance put his hand over his heart again. “Swearing on our soul bond is grounds for permanent shutting out if ever broken. That’s a new rule between us.”

Keith slowly smiled. “Good.”

Lance’s aura changed a little, turning more dark and anxious. Keith was getting very used to noticing that.

“What’s wrong?” Keith asked, as Lance leaned back against the wall of the bed’s alcove. Akira meowed excitedly and crawled up onto his stomach.

Lance worked his jaw as he scratched Akira’s tiny baby head. He looked up again, nervous.

“What are you going to do about Shiro?”

Keith’s mood plummeted and he turned away, looking over the room, landing his gaze on the familiar landscape of Varadero beach on the nightstand. Lance reached forward and ran a comforting hand over his back.

“I don’t…I don’t know,” Keith said, quietly. “What if…What if our relationship’s too…what if I ruined it?”

Lance leaned back forward, wrapping a gentle hand on Keith’s cheek, turning his head to look back at him. His eyes reflected his aura, sincere and genuine.

“Shiro’s not like that. He wouldn’t let a fight like that change anything, really.”

Keith took a deep breath. “And what if I _don’t_ apologize first? Because, I was right. I always apologized first as a kid, because I was being immature and reckless. But this? I’m right. _We’re_ right. He was the one in the wrong. He should be the one apologizing first.”

“O…kay…” Lance considered that. “You’re…definitely not _wrong._ But, I don’t know if that’s the same as being _right._ I mean, I said some pretty harsh stuff to Shiro, too…but, Keith that was…And Shiro…you said it yourself that he has some touchy stuff with mind and brain magic-y…stuff. It’s not entirely him in the _wrong,_ either.”

Keith gave him a disbelieving look. Lance clicked his tongue.

“Alright, that week-long separation was _definitely_ in the wrong. But, that would be my business to yell at him for,” he said, waving a hand. “And I already kind of did. I’m not really wanting to do that anymore. But this other mission…eh, that’s a little different.”

Keith bit his lip, knowing Lance was right. But, he was nothing if not stubborn.

“I still don’t want to apologize first. He was the one that messed up worse, in my opinion,” Keith muttered.

Lance sighed a little, nodding. “Okay. Fair enough. We’ll see if he apologizes. But, what if this messes with Voltron?”

Keith stalled, not really thinking about that. “Well, that will be on Shiro’s conscious, too. Boo him.”

Lance let out a surprised laugh. “I’d never have pegged you as such a petty bitch.”

Keith smirked, shrugging. “I am gay, you know? We tend to lean pretty petty.”

Lance giggled, rubbing a hand over his face. “Okay. Well, I’ll be behind you on this. I did promise I’d let you take care of Shiro. Now, it seems we’re in opposite camps, though.”

“Not opposite,” Keith argued, frowning. “You admitted what he did wasn’t right, too.”

“Hm, alright. Then kind of disagreeing. Sort of,” Lance said, cocking his head in thought. “Oof, if Shiro didn’t suck at the moment, he’d be so proud of us being so mature and open-minded about moral ambiguity of the inner-fighting of Voltron’s paladins. It’s getting as complicated as Theros asking about the intricacies of Earth’s gender constructs.”

Keith’s eyebrows shot up to his hairline. “Well that was very insightful. You should write a philosophy book.”

Akira meowed, batting at Lance’s fingers, asking for pets. Lance gasped, upset at himself.

“Oh, honey, I’m so sorry!” he said, in a high-pitched voice. “Baby’s needing some attention, isn’t he? Aww….”

Keith chuckled as Lance picked up the kitten and made exaggerated kissy faces at him.

“And there’s the Lance I know….”

Lance kicked at his shin as Keith laughed.


	25. Chapter 25

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shiro and Keith's devolving relationship comes at a steep price for Voltron
> 
> Warning for panic attack and grief and mentions of civilian death

The next day, they had an emergency distress beacon activated in the farther reaches of the Coalition. Someone needed their help. Someone needed Voltron.

And it was the absolute worst battle they’d ever been in since becoming paladins.

Lance gritted his teeth as yet another ion cannon scattered the lions and he could tell that the black lion was interfering in almost every single one of Lance and Keith’s multi-pronged attacks. It was getting to the point that the red and black lions were almost fighting _each other._

“Paladins! Will you get yourselves together! This planet has innocent people that are being drained of resources right this second! You have a duty to the universe!” Allura yelled out, frustrated with their antics.

“Pidge, get in between the carrier and the swarm of fighter jets. Keith, follow her lead and rocket in there,” Lance said, seriously. “Fire at the main core reactor, it’s almost at the atmosphere. This planet will be done for if we don’t act now.”

“Cadets, you will follow _my_ orders,” Shiro growled over the comms.

“As if we will!” Keith yelled, turning from the fray to converge with Pidge. “Come on, Pidge.”

Pidge looked conflicted for a moment, before following after Keith. “Alright, let’s go. What are you going to do, Lance?”

“Shiro, Hunk and I will target the bridge at the front of the fleet and disable their controls for the ion cannon,” he said, confidently. “If our _glorious leader_ doesn’t mind that is.”

“Lance…” Hunk said, uncomfortably. “That’s not really helping…”

“No, we’re forming Voltron. We need to do this now,” Shiro said, even more stubborn.

Keith huffed a sardonic laugh. Lance felt the edges of almost sadism in there, masking loads of hurt and pain.

“ _Again,_ as if we will. We try to form Voltron right now, I think I might end up grabbing a hold of your mind and squeezing it like a grape until it-,”

“ _Paladin,_ I am the head of Voltron and you will _follow my lead!”_ Shiro said, loudly.

Lance squeezed his eyes shut at the pounding headache, as even the lions in his head were roiling in contempt and disbelief. Their team dynamic was so fractured and disjointed, Lance thought maybe they’d never be able to form Voltron again.

They were all flying with tension and harsh tactics, unable to keep themselves organized as a team.

“Fine. Let’s get this done,” Lance said, sighing. “Keith, do it.”

There was a sharp glare over the screens, until Keith scoffed and rolled his eyes.

“Fine. Whatever.”

They converged and flew in formation, Lance desperately willing things to work. And miraculously, it almost did. They felt the familiar pull on their lions, the beginnings of the five parts of a whole fitting together as one.

Until they all felt unimaginable _pain._

The entire team seized in their seats, screaming as even the start of Voltron fought back against their useless team. They shot apart, putting leagues between them and all recovering from the attack from their own ships.

“What the hell was that?” Pidge said, panting.

“Doesn’t matter, we need to work _now!”_ Lance screamed, pointing. “They’re almost at the core! The planet’s dying!”

“Do Lance’s plan!” Keith yelled out, rocketing over. Pidge followed without another word and the others worked on their own part to play.

They managed to defeat the fleet, them retreating. But, the damage was already done. The planet was in tatters, breaking apart at the crust. They all watched in horror from their lions, Lance feeling a sharp intense grief and guilt.

“They…they all got to evacuate…right?” Hunk asked, voice shaking in terror.

“M-most…most did,” Allura said, hand covering over her face. “But…but the…most of the o-older population…and the ill…”

Lance bent over his controls, trembling at the images of those that they couldn’t save. Older couples, families, women, men, _children._ They were supposed to be Voltron. The heroes.

“Oh…oh my gods…” Lance wheezed out.

His eyes burned and he felt an intense hold on his chest. His breathing stuttered and barely got out in puffs. His head pounded and pounded and _pounded._ His vision narrowed and blackened at the edges. Pain. _Pain._

“Lance…Lance!”

Keith. Keith was trying to talk to him. He couldn’t do it. He needed to get out.

He shut off the connection without a word and zoomed back to the castle, letting the blue lion take over at the end. He was trembling too hard to even grip the controls. The lion docked and Lance hyperventilated furiously.

_People. People are dead. Because of us. Because of me._

Lance’s hands gripped into his hair, trying desperately for the pain to be physical, rather than horrifically shredding at his emotions.

_Shut it off. Shut it off! SHUT IT OFF!_

He was trembling so hard his joints ached at the movement. Tears were running over his face in rivers and waves. His chest ached and hurt down to his heart. The beat pounded against his eardrum, harsh and _hurt._

Lance was so, so _hurt._

He couldn’t even see or hear or know anything except being _hurt._

The pilot’s chair was suddenly whipped around, startling Lance.

Keith bent down in front of him, hands hovering in the air. His eyes were wide and pleading.

“Lance, can you hear me?”

It was like trying to listen to someone talk underwater. Lance still understood, so he nodded a little.

“Okay. Can I touch you?”

Lance shook his head, vehemently. The idea was like mosquitoes biting over his skin. Keith’s expression flinched, but he nodded nonetheless.

“Alright. Lance, I need you to breathe with me, okay? Watch my chest. Focus on it.”

Lance’s eyes narrowed in on the bright red and white of Keith’s armor, moving up and down. Lance breathed in when he watched Keith’s chest rise, paused when it did, then breathed out when he saw it fall.

“Good, good. In for 4, 3, 2, 1,” Keith whispered, coaching him. “Then hold for 7, 6, 5…then let go for 8, 7….”

Lance felt the grip of fear and panic slowly leave him. His breathing mellowed out, still shaky and uneven. His mind sharpened into more awareness. Tears kept falling over his cheeks.

Keith was silent for a few minutes, getting Lance back to open his emotions again. After a little while, Keith reached a hand in offering. Still giving Lance an out to refuse.

Lance curled his fingers in the hand, letting out a pathetic whimper. His lip wobbled like a child.

_Children. Sick children._

“I’m so sorry, Lance,” Keith whispered, voice cracking from strain. “That was all my fault. I’m so sorry.”

Lance shook his head, still unable to produce words. He just cried harder, bowing his head and falling forward into Keith’s arms. He trembled in grief.

Keith ran a comforting hand through Lance’s hair, curling his fingers to gently comb it back down from where Lance had messed it up in the midst of his panic attack. Their auras converged again, slowly rolling into each other. They were both settled into heavy grief and guilt. It smelt like muddy rain and cinderblocks. A graveyard.

“That was so bad,” Lance finally got out, voice hoarse and cracking. “That was so, so bad. We-we didn’t just fail to form Voltron…it actually _hurt._ And…and those people…we couldn’t even…we didn’t even help…”

Keith sighed, broken. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, Lance. It was all my fault. I couldn’t…me and Shiro…without you, we probably would have lost. You stepped up when we couldn’t hold it together.”

Lance sniffled and breathed shallowly. “We probably need to go to the bridge. We need…Allura probably has some stuff to say…”

“Are you sure? Are you okay enough for that?” Keith asked, gently.

He paused, knowing he was definitely on the verge of a full anxiety attack for the next hour, but they had a duty. He nodded.

Keith helped him to his feet, locking arms with him and leading him down the ramp. Akira was actually sitting at the bottom of it, already in tiger form. Lance didn’t question it as he accepted the cat’s head into his hand and scratching him. They changed out of their armor, not bothering to shower.

The walk to the bridge was like walking to their doom. Lance was terrified at what they were going to find.

When they stepped on, he didn’t even need a bond with the others to imagine the inky black and rolling auras over the others. They were all sitting in their paladin chairs, Allura and Coran leaning over the console at the front. They were already wormholed away.

Allura looked up with a haunted look over her features. She sighed, noting how off-kilter Lance and Keith were.

“Are you both alright?” she asked, quietly.

Lance looked to the ground in shame and he could only nod. Keith squeezed his hip. They ended up sitting together on the blue paladin’s chair, Keith perching on the armrest.

“Is everyone else okay?” Lance asked, looking up and turning over everyone else.

Pidge and Hunk caught his eye and looked just as wrecked as him. They both hesitantly nodded. Pidge’s way too young face looked like a seasoned soldier. Shiro stayed hunched over with his elbows resting on his knees.

Allura finally got into a leadership role. “I think we all can agree that mission was effectively a failure. If it wasn’t for Lance stepping in, that could have been a full massacre. Innocent people were still lost, in the end.”

Shiro finally looked up, glaring over to Lance. “You undermined my authority, Lance. That made it unstable and we couldn’t even form Voltron. You need to stay in _line.”_

Lance flinched, not because of Shiro’s words, but because he could immediately feel Keith’s overwhelming sweltering _fury._

“Are you _fucking_ kidding?!” Keith yelled, standing and already stalking over to threaten Shiro physically. Lance had to leap up and hook Keith’s arms at the elbows, holding him back.

“You are the problem, you _asshole!”_

“Keith!” Lance said, trying to keep him rooted.

“No, we all know it! He’s the one that’s making everything horrible! What _team?_ What _leader?”_

Shiro leapt to his feet, too, eyes flaming with steady anger. That made Hunk enter in the picture, coming between them all with arms out. He looked at them all, eyes pleading.

“Hey, HEY!” Hunk said, loudly. “We can’t fight like this! It’s only making things worse!”

“How can you expect me to lead this team if no one respects me?!” Shiro yelled, cybernetic arm flying up through the air.

“How can you expect me to respect someone who makes crack ass decisions?!” Keith screamed back, even louder.

Lance had to dig his heels in the ground to keep Keith from wailing on Shiro. Even with all the extra training and pushing himself on the training deck, Keith was still overwhelmingly strong. He struggled and moved in front to be another physical barrier between them. Allura had to step in, growing to a bigger height, arms holding Shiro and Keith back from each other.

“Paladins, this isn’t-,” she tried to say, but immediately got cut off.

“Lance was the only one that actually had a solid plan, you were sitting doing jack shit!” Keith yelled, entirely focused on making Shiro feel worthless.

“Keith, stop!” Lance tried to yell, but no one was paying attention.

“If it wasn’t for you being so distracted by your schoolboy teenage obsession with Lance, none of this would be a problem in the first place!” Shiro yelled back, nose flaring.

Lance actually s _aw_ as something flashed in Keith’s eyes. It looked like the dilation of a cat’s eyes, yellow burning in the whites surrounding his irises. His teeth bared and he let out a cry of anger, moving harder against Lance’s arms.

They all started yelling at each other, voices getting lost in the mix, emotions running so high that Lance was dizzy with it.

They all startled apart when a piercing loud siren burst their eardrums. Lance slammed his hands over his ears, trying to block out the noise. It was like a tornado siren turned up a few notches and they were right next to the speaker.

The noise cut off and they all stumbled back from each other, looking at the console at the front. Pidge was bent over the controls, shoulders shaking. Coran looked at her with wide, sad eyes.

“ENOUGH!” she screamed, whipping around.

She had tears streaming down her face and her glasses were in her hand. She was breathing hard and her lip quivered with emotion.

“I came out here to space looking for my _family._ My dad and my brother are still missing, but I decided to stay and protect the universe on this team. Because you all became my family too!”

Her voice carried over the room, shaking with anger and grief and sadness.

“But this? What even is this anymore? What team? What _family_ does this to each other? You’re all hurting each other and it _sucks._ Because it hurts the rest of us, too. It hurts _me!”_

She pointed to herself, hand shaking. He could feel as Keith retreated back into himself, thoroughly guilty. Lance glanced to see Shiro grimace and look down at the ground, too. Hunk was crying, silently.

Pidge just deflated, looking to Allura. “Princess, I think we need a break. I’m going to suggest we spend some time to ourselves. We’re no help to anyone like this.”

Allura stared at her, then slowly nodded. “I’ll position the castle in an unused pocket of space, for now. Maybe we can use the time to…reflect.”

Lance looked over to where Keith was now staring out at space with a rolling thunderous aura. He sighed, going over and laying a gentle hand on his shoulder. Keith glanced over with watery eyes.

“Come on. Let’s go back to our room. We aren’t getting anywhere like this,” Lance whispered, imploringly.

Keith nodded, letting Lance lead them off the bridge. Akira followed after them, having been waiting outside the room at the door.

When they got to Lance’s room, Keith immediately went to the bathroom and shut the door. Lance sighed, plopping down onto his bed, face falling into his hands. Akira sat at the open mouth and meowed.

“Gods, Akira…what if we can’t form Voltron anymore?” he asked, voice cracking. “What if this bond just…broke everything?”

Akira just meowed again, softer this time.

He didn’t seem to have an answer either.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> poor lancey lance :(


	26. Chapter 26

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The start to healing is admitting that mistakes were made

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> take this almost angsty and fluffy monstrosity with a hint of Found Family and go fetch

Keith tried to stubborn and detached from the team, insistent on retreating back to his old ways.

But it _hurt_ to try and glare at everyone besides Lance. He could see the flashes of pain across his friends’ faces. His _family._

Because no matter what he had said in the heat of the moment, he really did love and care about all the team as his family.

He was wallowing in a nest that he made for himself in Lance’s room, alone without Lance or Akira for the first time in a while. He just needed some space.

The door opened, Keith not even looking up because he had felt Lance’s approach through the bond. He heard Lance sigh a little, then he felt a weight move to sit on the ground at the opening of the nest. Akira’s little baby body dug his way through the opening, making Keith look up.

Lance was giving him a small, sad smile. He wordlessly handed over a bowl of food goo.

“I know you’re hungry. I feel it.”

Keith huffed, slowly disentangled himself from the nest. He took the bowl and the blankets around them fell off his shoulders. He mixed around the goo, no appetite at all.

“I’m really sorry, Lance.”

His voice was soft and wheezing, stewing in harsh guilt and crying. Lance reached over and placed a comforting hand on Keith’s knee. His thumb started to rub over the thigh.

“You’ve been blaming yourself too much. This is all fucked right now. You focus too much on your responsibility. I had to learn how to fix that about myself, too. This is all piling down on you and you’re doing that thing you do. You’re shutting down because you can’t stomach actually getting violent or snapping at the team,” Lance said, gently.

Keith could see all of the kind intelligence that Lance always hidden away, snuck beneath witty jabs and commentary. It rolled like the tide, caressing over his aura with soft blues and whites. The ocean was always a constant with Lance, a reminder of Earth and a reflection of his inner quintessence, but sometimes it was more pronounced.

“I don’t want to apologize to Shiro,” Keith said, firmly.

“I’m not asking you to,” Lance said, shaking his head. “But, I think that _we_ should apologize to the team. At least to Hunk. Besides Coran he’s been our biggest supporter and what we both said to him really hurt him. And this cold shoulder to them is only making them feel worse. Pidge is a wreck. Little baby Pidge.”

Keith sighed, putting down the bowl. He saw how messed up the team was while they-while _he_ continued to glare at them. It was exhausting him and only making him feel worse. He didn’t want to regress to who he was again.

“You’re right. None of them deserve this. I’m just…frustrated,” Keith said, put out. “And…and _hurt._ ”

A month ago, Keith would never have even thought about saying something so…vulnerable. Something that was complete honesty and showed the ugliest, deepest parts of his pain. His suffering that he carried every day. But Lance could see right down to his soul. There was no need for Keith to hold back.

Lance nodded, sweeping up Keith’s hand and bringing it up to touch his lips to the knuckles. Keith’s face burst into heat, no doubt turning bright red at the affection. Lance looked up and chuckled.

“I know, _gatito,”_ Lance said, rubbing his thumb over Keith’s fingers. “But, we’ve been stressing them out just as we are. And they deserve an apology.”

Keith blanched at the Spanish term of endearment…that he didn’t know the meaning of. He decided not to ask and then ate the food goo with more purpose. Akira meowed and climbed all over his lap.

“What have you been doing today?” Keith asked, trying for something lighter.

Lance hummed. “Been talking to Blue and Red a little. They’re kind of worried. Especially Red. She says you haven’t been down to talk to her in a while. And apparently Red and Black have been having some cat fights lately.”

“Cat fights?” Keith repeated, dead pan. “Really Lance?”

“Oh come on, that was a given,” he said, smirking. “And yeah, Black’s a little more on Shiro’s side as the story goes. Really weird, never thought the lions would even get involved.”

Keith groaned, falling back against the bedframe behind him. “Great. Are we going to have to fight a giant sentient lion robot too? Gods, I might actually lose my mind, then.”

“No, no…Red has that covered for us.”

Lance was alight with humor and it added bright sunspots to his aura. Keith stared into the colors, loving them and cherishing them. It seemed as though he was found out through the bond, because Lance melted into a softer, gentler smile.

Keith awkwardly cleared his throat, a little embarrassed. “Uh, yeah. So, I think we can go apologize to everyone. But…uh, I don’t want to do it all at once. I think I want to make the rounds.”

Lance nodded, standing up and wiping off imaginary dirt off his pants. He offered a hand to Keith and pulled him up with surprising strength.

It must have shown on his face because Lance smirked. Keith rolled his eyes and playfully pushed him.

“Sometimes I kind of hate how well you can read me. It borders on the creepy,” Keith said, grumbling.

Lance grinned, placing an easy hand on Keith’s hip, long fingers rubbing over the jut of his hip bone.

“Aw, you love it, _gatito.”_

Keith huffed, but didn’t have it in him to deny. They walked down the hallways with Akira following at their heels. They spoke low to each other and smiled, until they ended up at the kitchens and freezing in the doorway.

They both stared as Shiro looked up. Shiro had one Galra hand on the pump for food goo and he involuntarily squeezed it in shock to shoot out harsher into his bowl. It splattered out of the bowl right onto his shirt, making the man make a disgusted noise and back away.

Keith’s first instinct in that moment was to laugh and tease, like a normal younger brother. Instead, he stifled it down, wordlessly stepping out of Lance’s arm and clattering his bowl into the sanitizing shute.

Lance, however, seemed to be caught up in the humor enough to snort out loud.

“Uh, dude, you missed a little…”

Shiro sighed, looking up and glaring a little. “Yes, thank you for the acute observation, Lance. Whatever would I do without you?”

“You’d get an entire planet blown up,” Keith muttered, angrily.

Lance cringed, then pushed Keith out the door.

“Wow, great talk there, Shiro! Got things to do! Bye now!”

The door shut behind them and they both sighed. Lance gave him a disappointed glance in his periphery.

“I know, I know…that wasn’t cool,” Keith said, fingers grasping into his fringe. “It’s just whenever I think of a normal thing I’d want to do with him, like what we used to be…it makes me even more mad.”

“As long as you know it. And I’m still letting you take lead. Come on, Pidge and Hunk were doing maintenance on the lions when I left. They’re probably still there. And you can tell Red why you’ve been a broody sad lump,” Lance said, taking his hand and skipping ahead.

Keith tugged him back to walk normally. “I do probably owe her an apology too…”

_Gods, I suck…the worst…I yelled at the team…gave Red the silent treatment…I’m such a bad person, why do I do this? Why can’t I just-_

“Stop. That.”

Keith blinked, as Lance planted himself in front of him, hands on hips. His blue eyes were narrowed and a long golden tanned finger was poking him in the chest.

“I feel all your gross negativity and I know you were just hating on yourself more. It tastes like tar. Stop it.”

Keith opened his mouth to argue back but closed it. Lance literally could tell when he was lying.

“Sorry…” he mumbled, cowed.

Lance sighed, wrapping an arm around Keith’s shoulders and ran his fingers through his hair. They continued walking with Akira bouncing ahead of them with his tail high in the air.

“I just don’t like that you’ve been blaming yourself for literally everything this entire time. It makes my stomach all icky. You’re the best person I’ve ever met. You need to start thinking better of yourself,” he said, voice a tinge sad.

Keith couldn’t even imagine how Lance thought of him like that, seeing as how he thought _Lance_ was the best person he’d ever met. How could he compare when he would constantly create problems and hurts his own friends? He somehow managed to hurt a ten-thousand-year-old sentient lion robot and sabotaged a mission that ended up with innocent people-

“ _Ugh,_ Keith!”

He snapped out of it, looking up at Lance’s frown. He deflated, turning his head to lay against Lance’s shoulder.

“Sorry…sorry…I don’t really like myself right now…”

“Keith, I know this has been really hard on you. But, you’re just beating yourself up about it even more. And I _feel_ you beating yourself up about it. And that makes me sad because I like my soft, sweet and _happy_ samurai _gatito._ Nothing’s your fault and you’re not a bad person. I promise.”

Keith took a minute to absorb that and even made the effort to try and believe it.

“What is that you’re calling me?”

Is what he said instead.

Lance hummed. “Samurai?”

Keith picked his head up and furrowed his brows. Lance was nonchalantly looking away.

“No, the Spanish word…gordito?”

Lance actually stumbled a little and whipped his head around, jaw dropping. Under all the surprise, there was a steady stream of unconscious amusement.

“I am _not_ calling you _gordito!_ Gods, Keith that is so rude, I couldn’t even dream of it! It’s _ga-tito!”_

Keith’s eyebrow went up. “Okay. _Ga-tito._ What does that mean?”

Lance looked away again, pursing his lips. “If I tell you, you’d get weird about it…”

“What-?”

“Oh look, here we are!”

The door to the lions’ bay opened and Lance swept in and announced their presence with:

“The bonded paladins have arrived!”

Pidge and Hunk were sitting together next to the green lion’s paw, tools and blueprints and computers strewn about. Hunk looked up and waved. Pidge blinked at them, then subtly looked away, impassive.

“Hey, Lance…Keith…”

A stab of guilt went through Keith’s chest at the tone and he wordlessly unwound Lance’s arm from his shoulders. Lance stepped back, understanding. Keith nervously ran a hand through his hair and then walked over to stand in front of them.

“Hunk…Pidge…I wanted to apologize. For real, this time. About…well, everything. Things haven’t been good around the team and it’s my fault. I’m…”

He paused, letting his hand and head drop in shame. His voice lowered.

“I’m really sorry. For hurting you and saying those things to you. It wasn’t right.”

Hunk immediately stood up and placed a hand on Keith’s shoulder.

“Buddy, it’s okay. You’re going through some crazy stuff right now and we haven’t exactly been helpful. I’m not mad,” he said, patting the shoulder.

Keith looked up and gave a small smile. He then glanced to see Pidge, still looking conflicted. Hunk turned to look at her, too.

“Pidge…”

She held the stance a few more ticks, before sighing and deflating. She stood up and nervously fiddled with her glasses.

“It’s not all your fault. Shiro’s a huge part of it, too. And I made promises to the both of you to stick up for you…which I was too scared to actually do. So, I’m sorry too. You’re hurting probably more than the rest of us,” she said, softly.

Keith could only shrug at that. Pidge analyzed his behavior, then poked him in the forehead.

“ _Are_ you okay?”

He held her gaze, wondering whether or not he wanted to tell the actual truth. A lump formed in his throat and he looked to the ground.

“I’ve been better…”

Hunk’s hands formed a prayer’s form. “Dude. I wanna hug you _so bad_ right now. Is that okay? Can I hug you?”

Keith chuckled. He opened his arms and Hunk immediately swept him up. Pidge quickly leapt out of the way. Lance stood off in the background, a fond smile and lavender aura covering his figured.

“Lance, get in here, you too Pidge!”

“What-I didn’t agree to-,”

Lance grabbed her and Hunk encased them all in a group hug. Pidge grumbled, but didn’t put up much of a fight. Lance laid his head against the side of Keith’s. He turned so their foreheads were pressed together.

“Sorry from me, too,” Lance said, quietly. “I’ve been pretty bitchy myself.”

“No more apologies. All is forgiven,” Hunk said, letting them all go. Lance and Keith stayed in orbit, hands entwining between them. Akira stepped out from the shadows and Pidge startled.

“Woah, I didn’t even know he was here!”

“You want to look after him for a little bit?” Keith asked, smiling. “I need to finish my apology tour.”

Hunk gasped, stifling a squeal. “Yes…of course! Oh my gods, little dude, we are going to have so much fun!”

Akira immediately bounded over to him, excitedly. He was catching onto Hunk’s sunny disposition. Lance grinned, crouching next to the kitten, still holding on to Keith’s hand.

“Alright, you be good for Uncle Hunk, you hear?” he said, scratching the baby on the head.

“You guys are still so gross and gay,” Pidge said, wrinkling her nose. “It’s sappy and gives me cavities.”

“Well, that’s not good. I don’t think there are dentists in space,” Keith said, frowning. “Maybe Coran could help.”

Lance snorted. “See? Keith is hilarious, I’m telling you.”

They all laughed, good naturedly and friendly again. Keith felt just a bit more whole again. They said their goodbyes, but before they left the bay, Keith stopped Lance in front of Blue and Red.

Their presences enveloped both of their minds and Keith closed his eyes, reaching up a tendril in apology to Red.

_Sorry for disappearing. Had some stuff to work through. It felt too dumb to talk to you about it._

Red’s aura grasped onto his with a soft embrace and a mind lick.

_You’re my cub, little one. I want to protect you. But I know that your paladin team can sometimes be your own responsibility._

Lance took a long deep breath. “Gods, I will never get bored of all the crazy feelings in my head because of this bond. It’s so _cool.”_

Keith couldn’t help but agree.

As they continued on, they caught Allura and Coran working on the bridge, both looking up and giving them careful looks. Keith did a similar approach, but with a lot more anxiety at Allura’s reaction.

“I’m sorry. For letting my personal feelings affect Voltron’s stability and the dynamic of the team. It’s my responsibility. And for blowing up on you. It was cruel to say we aren’t a family, when you’ve both lost so much,” he said, bowing his head again.

Allura stepped forward and without a word, wrapped gentle arms around Keith. He startled in surprise, before patting her on the back.

“Keith, you both are so very important to us. We just wish for you to be happy and content. I apologize as well for my part in your discomfort and pain,” she said, stepping back and giving a weary smile.

Keith figured he must not be the only one losing sleep over this. Coran stepped up, also looking a little down and tired. He still tried for his most gracious of smiles. He didn’t even need to say a word this time for Lance and Keith to know that he was going to always be on their side.

Keith was starting to feel just a bit more himself again.


	27. Chapter 27

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> But when someone won't admit their mistakes, healing is stunted. Emotions are confusing and all over the place.

It was another full week and Shiro hadn’t apologized.

And it was annoying the hell out of Lance.

At first, he was thinking that Keith had gone just a tad overboard. He was almost on Shiro’s side. Lance wasn’t one to assign blame especially when it was just him being hurt. But, Keith had a point. Teams weren’t assigned well on that mission and that was pointedly Shiro’s fault.

And Lance was the one that actually got barbecued for it.

And the much more important thing, was that Keith was descending farther and farther into a rage pit. Lance felt it, like a harsh desert sandstorm that smelled like dry dust and hot anger and fury. It threatened to overwhelm him.

At some point, as they were hanging out in Lance’s room, he could feel underneath the rolling tides of anger that there was such a deep pain and hurt. He couldn’t help but to ask.

“Keith?”

Keith looked up from where he was tucked against Lance’s chest, eyes glazed and far away. He hummed in question.

“Have you ever fought with Shiro like this? Told him that you…”

“Hated him?” Keith supplied, a choked breath finishing the word. He scrunched up his face with more pain. “No. Never. We’ve argued, of course. But…Shiro’s always been so _patient_ and focused. It never felt like he was the one that made mistakes. I was the fucked-up kid getting into trouble. I relied on him so much. I was so dependent. Because he was the one that got me fixed after my dad died. I was an orphan and he-he _raised_ me. He could do no wrong.”

“And now…” Lance said, quietly.

“And now it feels like I don’t even know him anymore. Like the Galra actually took my brother and I never really got him back,” Keith whispered, broken.

Lance ran a comforting hand over Keith’s back, as he cried silently into his chest. It made him sick with anger and sadness. It was salty and bitter in his mouth.

Lance let Keith go crazy on the training deck for a few vargas a couple days after that, as he tried to breathe through the harsh emotions. He paced on the observation deck, looking out into space and shaking out his arms.

The door opened, making Lance whip around, coming face to face with Shiro.

Shiro looked curiously as to what he was doing. “Hey, Lance. What’s up?”

The very _Keith_ anger came boiling up, but he purposed to keep it down.

“Uh, hey. Just…trying to keep Keith’s…uh, frustration from taking over. Pacing helps. Sometimes,” Lance said, shrugging.

“Right. So, uh…you feel whatever he’s feeling right now?” Shiro asked, tone barely masking discomfort.

Lance sighed. “Yes. I usually feel his emotions. But, just…recently he’s been pretty…intense. Usually we have more of an equilibrium.”

“Can’t you turn it off? Shut him out?” Shiro asked, frowning. “Keith’s mind isn’t something you should just stay tethered to all the time. He’s always pretty intense. And it can’t be healthy for you to stay so attached.”

“Easy for you to say. Cutting it off is only for emergencies and usually gives us headaches. Plus…” Lance shivered. “It makes us cold for some reason.”

“Huh? _Cold?_ Whenever you talk about this stuff, it just sounds so…invasive,” Shiro said, walking further in and leaning against the console. “I don’t know how you stand it.”

“Shiro, I can’t make you understand us. I can’t make you understand the bond. It’s…beyond words sometimes. And for what it means from me, I’m sorry. If this…brings up hard concepts for you. And for my part in making Keith so…angry. I guess. But, I think you should maybe think about how this bond? Doesn’t include you at all. I’ve talked about boundaries and privacy with Keith over and over, because I _get_ it. It’s not like we immediately jumped into the deep end of telling each other our deepest darkest secrets. We’re just… _trying._ Okay? But you haven’t been working with us at all. That separation nearly destroyed us. And don’t think I’ve really forgotten that your stunt with the teams on that mission sent _me_ to the healing pods. That sucked.”

Shiro held a sharp gaze to him the entire time, before that addition about his mistakes and he looked to the ground, sighing.

“Lance…for what it’s worth, I’m sorry. I-it was a bad call on my part. And you were hurt because of it,” he said, gruffly.

Lance examined the man, noticing just how ashamed and guilty he really seemed. He sighed, sitting on the armrest of the red paladin’s chair.

“I appreciate that. For w _hat it’s worth._ But, honestly? I never really blamed you. Uh, for that one at least. Not entirely. Keith, however?” Lance said, tilting his head.

“And you haven’t felt the importance of apologizing to him. Why? Because this anger? It’s not just anger. It’s…fear. And-and self- _hatred._ And panic. And-and gods, _trauma._ And so much guilt. And so, so many other horrible emotions. And it’s because of what you did and how it made him feel and what it’s been like for you to just set him aside. You’ve been every pillar of support in his life for years and now, when something so exciting and incredible happens, you ridicule and condescend. Not even to mention that separation nearly fucking _killed_ him. And he didn’t even get mad at you.”

Shiro was rendered speechless at this. He stared at Lance, unable to show proper emotion.

“Just. Talk to him, will you? Please? Because, uh, this entire time, I’ve been trying not to hit you. Very _Keith-y_ in my head right now. And I’d like my soft sweet Keith back. Even my baby kitten Akira has been all grumpy,” Lance said, as he stood up and went to walk out.

“Lance, wait!” Shiro said, just as Lance opened the door. Lance turned back and Shiro was standing with his hands opening and closing.

“I really am sorry,” he said, quietly.

Lance couldn’t help but feel all of Keith’s flames take over for a moment. He stalked right up to Shiro’s face, grabbing the front of his collar and glaring with all his might. Shiro’s hands gripped at the console behind him and his eyes widened in alarm.

“Yeah. I know. I can tell. Listen, do whatever you want to me. Blame me for whatever you think is necessary. I don’t care if I get in the crossfire. I don’t give a single _shit_ about what happens to me. But, if your discomfort _ever_ puts _Keith_ in danger like that separation again? I promise you…I will not hesitate before bringing you down. By any means necessary,” he growled, hands clenching in the material.

Lance pushed him back roughly against the console and stomped out of the bridge. He turned and slammed a full fist against the wall.

But even then, nothing happened.

That’s why after a week and a half, he told Keith to set up a nest in their room and he was going to go to the kitchens to get snacks. Instead, he gathered everyone else except Shiro in the dining hall, shutting the door and locking it.

“What is it, Lance? Is everything alright?” Allura asked, puzzled.

Lance sighed, sitting on the table and looking at all of them. “No. Shiro and Keith are fighting so bad these days we aren’t able to keep up Voltron. We need to fix it.”

Hunk crossed his arms on the table, sad. “Yeah. We all can feel it. It’s getting toxic. How does it feel for you, Lance?”

He frowned. “I’ll just say, not good. I feel Keith’s anger and resentment. It’s getting hard for me not to snap at Shiro myself. So, we need to figure this out. Please. Before I start throwing knives. Which….I might be able to do, now. I still don’t know how far this goes in my psyche.”

Pidge cocked her head, thoughtfully. “Have you tried? That’d be interesting.”

“Not the time, Pidge,” Hunk said, frowning.

“So, what would you suggest? Do you have an idea?” Allura asked, curiously.

Lance grinned, putting up his hand to examine his nails, casually.

“As a matter of fact…I do. I say we force them in a room together. Get them to talk. Some…intervention situation. Classic.”

“Are you sure that won’t just…make it worse? And like…actually start a real fight?” Hunk asked, anxiously.

“Yes, if you say that Keith is so angry, maybe forcing them to talk would only make him angrier,” Allura said, frowning.

Lance sighed, running a hand through his hair. “Maybe Shiro _deserves_ a punch or two.”

The team all blinked at him, shocked. Lance examined himself, then grimaced.

“Okay, that was probably the Keith in me. But, still valid, I would say,” he added on, laughing nervously.

“You know, it’s interesting. At first, it was obvious how Keith had been acting different. He was all mushy gushy weirdness. But, you? I don’t think I noticed you being like Keith that much until recently. I wonder why that is?” Pidge said, intrigued.

“Again, I’ve said this over and over, Keith has always been mushy gushy, it’s just no one _let_ him be mushy. Everyone would act all weird around him or ignore him. And I’ve always been kind of protective. I just wasn’t so direct with it,” Lance explained, rolling his eyes.

“I can attest for that one,” Hunk said, raising his hand. “Lance is subtle with his protectiveness, but it’s always been there. For example, he would always get two snacks even if I wasn’t with him at the vending machines and sneak them to me in class. And since coming out here, I mean one of the first things he did was save Coran’s life that one time.”

Coran perked up at the memory. “Yes, he did. It was quite brave.”

“And he’s always told me to go to sleep and eat when I forget to while I’m deep into projects,” Pidge muttered, following along and then sent Lance a genuine smile. “I guess I never really appreciated that.”

Allura melted into a fond smile. “Well, the blue lion did choose him for a reason. Her favored paladin has always been one that keeps the team glued together and thinks of others before themselves. The selfless paladin.”

Lance’s face grew hot and he looked away, unable to take all the compliments.

“Uh, I-uh, weren’t we talking about Shiro and Keith?” he said, hiding his face a little in his hand.

“See? Classic Lance deflection. Even if he’s acting like he likes people talking about him all the time, if he’s not the one leading the discussion, he gets all cute and embarrassed,” Hunk said, pointing at him.

Lance hissed at him, waving an arm. “Okay, okay, let’s…move on to more pressing matters, shall we? What are we going to do about Shiro and Keith?”

“Maybe Lance is onto something about that whole ‘lock them in a room’ thing. But, maybe it’s not quite that. Mind if I make a few tweaks?” Pidge asked, finally seeming to be in ‘idea’ mode.

Lance grinned, leaning forward and gesturing with his hand. “Yes! Tweak away!”

“Then I say maybe we mess a little with castle tech while they’re on the training deck. Gladiators come to play, they _have_ to work together to get through them. Forced bonding, a-check!”

Lance hummed, considering it. “But, what if it actually gets dangerous?”

“We stay up in the tower, checking it all over. The whole time,” she said, casually shrugging.

“Do you think it’ll work, Princess?” Lance asked, wanting her input.

Allura set her head on her hand, contemplative. “It might be worth a shot. There’s nothing more important than keeping Voltron stable. And Lance is correct that Shiro and Keith’s hostility has made Voltron unable to stay connected as it should.”

Hunk took a look at Lance, supportive. “I’m in.”

“Good. Okay, when should this go down?” Lance asked. “Actually, hold that thought. Get it done between you guys, I need to get back to Keith before he gets suspicious. Just call us in to the training deck for group work when you’ve got it set up. I’ll know what it means.”

They all nodded their agreements. He went off and quickly got a bunch of snacks and drinks and nearly ran down the hallway back to his room. He felt Keith’s confusion and suspicion.

He arranged his emotions to project just his most mushiest of feelings, the bright pinks and purples, so as to distract Keith from asking too many questions.

Lance opened the with an elbow and grinned at Keith on the ground in the nest.

“A humble offering, your handsome princeliness!” Lance said, setting the snacks down on the ground and disturbing Akira’s nap. He startled awake and meowed indignantly. “Oh, sorry baby!”

Keith gave him a critical look. “You were gone a while. And your emotions felt weird. Like you’re doing something you’re not supposed to.”

Lance waved a dismissive hand. “Pssht, come on. It wasn’t that long, I just ran into Hunk and everyone. We chatted a bit. They said some…uh, weird stuff.”

Keith grabbed a juice pouch and took a sip. “Oh yeah? Like what weird stuff?”

Lance hesitated, thinking it over. “Well, uh, just some weird stuff about me and…stuff. Something about…I don’t know, the blue lion and stuff.”

“Wait, they didn’t say anything bad, did they?” Keith asked, frowning.

Lance laid a hand on Keith’s arm. “Chill the dark red protectiveness, samurai. It wasn’t bad…it was actually a lot of, uh, good. That I just wasn’t expecting. As much as I like compliments and stuff, it caught me off guard and made feel all weird inside.”

Keith’s eyes widened, then he nodded. His aura brightened as well as his expression.

“Good. It’s about time more people noticed how important you are to the team,” he said, with an amazing tone of confidence.

Lance stalled with an Altean cracker on his way to his mouth. “Uh…wha-what? Huh?”

Keith shrugged. “It wasn’t just me that took you for granted. You deserve more recognition. You’re indispensable. Integral to the team. People should take more notice of that.”

Lance blinked and started to stutter. “Well, uh, I don’t know about-uh, what, I-, uh, _integral_ is kind of a big word…”

“It’s true,” he said, firm. “Don’t try to deny it.”

Lance felt all fluttery inside, but he got all insecure and nervous too. “Keith, I’m not that…you know, I’m not like _you_. You’re all samurai and awesome and you’re the best pilot on the team for sure. And Pidge is just a tiny little genius tech wizard and Hunk is all up in the engineering and Allura’s obviously…Allura. Not even to mention Shiro being…all big hero Shiro. I’m just…you know…here. Taking up some space. Piloting the other lion. Get someone better, I’m sure I can be easily replaced.”

Keith narrowed his eyes. “Leandro Olivero Sanchez-McClain, you stop that right now. If you won’t let me call myself a coward, then you can’t call yourself easily replaced. You’re our _sharpshooter,_ are you not? You even unlocked a completely new weapon in your bayard. Not even to mention that you’re in the top stats on the training deck, now. And your strategies never fail.”

Lance had a near flashback to his older brother scolding him using his full name, too.

“Woah, full name? Okay. That’s…strangely persuasive. Fair enough,” Lance said, chuckling. “But you’re not just…saying that because we’re soulmates or something? I mean you’re all up in my head. That’s got to maybe put some bias in there.”

“Have I ever lied to you?” Keith asked, an eyebrow up at him.

Lance looked away, fighting a smile. “No. I guess not.”

“Then there you go. Now come on. Movie night, right?” he said, patting the spot next to him as he brought out a castle pad.

Lance happily snuggled up, wrapping up Keith’s arm and laying his head on his shoulder. Keith’s aura sputtered with surprise, then rolled with bright happy yellow and pinks. A deep rumble erupted from Keith’s throat and Lance grinned wide.

Akira decided his favorite place was going to be on top of Keith’s head.

Keith stayed pink and purred deep in his chest the entire time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> anybody ask for BAMF lance? well here he is. don't mess with keith around lance he'll bite your head off


	28. Chapter 28

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pidge takes things into her own grubby little gremlin hands

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SPECIAL PIDGE POV CHAPTER WHOOP

Pidge had had _enough._

When Lance decided to make this play for a forced bonding, she was all for it. But something told her she needed at least one session to plead with Shiro to actually be willing to listen. So almost immediately after Lance left to canoodle with his little boyfriend, she was marching off to Shiro’s room and banging on the door. Her fists clenched at her sides and she tried to keep her seething under control.

When it swooshed open, Shiro blinked down at her in surprise.

“Uh, hey-,”

She forced her way in by physically moving him out of the way. She rounded on him, digging a sharp finger in his chest.

“What the _hell_ is going on with you?” she demanded, up at him.

Shiro’s face pinched, uncomfortable. “Pidge, you can’t understand what’s-,”

“Oh don’t you give me that!” she yelled, cutting him off. “Don’t treat me like a child. Yes, I gods damn know I’m the youngest and I’m the only human girl. You all treat me like I’m somehow an idiot, even though we all know I’m the smartest in the group. And honestly _you_ don’t even understand what’s going on, do you?”

Shiro sighed, officially cowed. “I don’t know what you want me to say…”

“I want you to at least _attempt_ an explanation as to why you’re being such an asshole,” she said, crossing her arms and planting herself.

He ran a metal hand over his head and backed up to lean against the wall. He looked to the ground with a concentrated look on his face.

“I didn’t mean for things to get this out of hand. I just…I just want to protect Keith. When he was suddenly acting so different and out of his shell around Lance and he explained this… _bond…_ just…it didn’t feel right to me. It didn’t seem natural to me. I just…kept imagining that it _forced_ Keith into a situation he wasn’t comfortable with. They’re right that they didn’t choose this, but that only makes it worse in my mind. Keith has always been so closed off and the fact of the matter is, that I don’t think that Keith would have become this way if it wasn’t for the bond,” he explained, sounding exhausted.

Pidge stood and stared at him, then really converged all the data in her mind. The behavioral changes in both Lance and Keith and Shiro’s responses. But it still ended up in the same place to her.

“So…you’re just…being protective in your mind?” she asked, tilting her head.

“No, it’s not just in my _mind._ I’m _being_ protective,” he said, firmly. “Keith is my responsibility and I don’t want him getting hurt.”

Pidge couldn’t help a sharp laugh. “Oh, that’s rich. Because as I’ve seen here, the only person that’s been hurting Keith is you.”

“That’s not what I meant to do!” he said, hand flying through the air. “How was I supposed to know that the separation was going to do that?”

“Coran tried to tell you!” she yelled back. “We all knew that it was a bad idea! You’re just stuck with this idea that you know best when you don’t! This isn’t something you can control! You need to drop it and _apologize!”_

Shiro reeled back. “What? Keith was the one-,”

“He was _not_ the one to do anything and we both know that. Imagine how Keith would be without you interfering? Him and Lance would just be gross and in love and that would be the end of it! The bond is none of your business or any of our business,” Pidge said, annoyed.

Shiro looked like he still wanted to argue, but she cut him off again.

“I don’t know what it is with you and this bond, but it doesn’t actually involve you, now does it? And if you’re going to pull some bullshit about Voltron, we were doing just fine as a team until you started your dumb bullshit. And even if the bond changed things about Voltron, then we work on it _together_ as a _group._ We give them time and space to settle into the bond and let them figure out their own relationship. Who are you to decide what’s best for him?”

Shiro closed his eyes and looked away. “I-this isn’t me trying to-,”

“It is though. You’re trying to control something that you just _can’t._ And it’s hurting them. Hurting all of us. And you need to just back off. Keith is an adult now. He can make his own choices,” she said, doubling down.

Pidge was getting more and more settled to what she believed was the one in the wrong. Shiro was always the one in the wrong. Maybe he believed he had the best intentions, but at some point along the way, it didn’t translate and he was just getting to be too stubborn to admit what he was doing was wrong.

Shiro took a long deep breath, then slowly looked at her. His eyes were conflicted and cloudy.

“You really think I’m the one that needs to apologize?” he asked, trying for anything that made him be in the right.

“Keith’s already apologized to the rest of us for what he’s done and said to us. And we apologized back. But, we all know that if anything is to change here, you’re going to have to be the one to apologize first to him. Then it’s Keith’s play. I can’t speak for him from then on. The rest of the team is all good and on board. The only thing left is your mistakes as leader and _friend._ Because no matter what your intentions were, the only thing we can see is that you’ve hurt both Keith and Lance,” she said, almost pleading.

“This has gone on long enough and we all know it. We’ve got bigger fish to fry at this point, haven’t we? If we can’t form Voltron at this point, it’s not anyone’s fault other than yours.”

Shiro finally dropped his arms and slid down to the floor, hands clutching at the sides of his head at the shaved parts.

“Gods…you’re right, aren’t you?” he said, defeated. “Lance has already yelled at me, too. I know that…that the decisions I made aren’t the best. And maybe…maybe I shouldn’t have let things get this far. But, I can’t be everywhere fixing everyone’s problems. If this bond somehow goes south or something happens, I can’t help either of them. What am I supposed to do then? How am I supposed to lead this team when I can’t understand something about two of my own?”

Pidge sighed, kneeling down and tucking her legs under her. “Do you think we understand what _you’ve_ been through? You were captured and tortured and thrown into an arena to fight for these intergalactic fascist maniacs. How is any of us supposed to understand that? How do we know what we say or do or where we go won’t send you into another panic attack? Shiro, we can’t control each other’s minds any easier than we can feasibly control our own. And just…take a step back. See Keith as he is now. See _Lance_ as he is now. Do you really think the bond made them somehow _worse_ people?”

Shiro took a moment to reflect, contemplating their actions and how they’ve been since the bond was introduced.

“No. Keith has been so…open and trusting and honest. He’s reached out to everyone and talked about his feelings….and-and Lance has been so steadfast and mature. Intelligent and understanding and calm under pressure…” he muttered, hesitantly. “I-I know that. And I saw that. But…”

“But you didn’t want to see it because that didn’t validate what you had already convinced yourself about the bond,” Pidge finished, shaking her head.

“Shiro, I respect you almost to the point of it being irrational. You’re the rock that has kept me sane in the wake of my brother and my dad being lost in space. I don’t want…I don’t want to lose that trust I have for you. But-but if things continue this way? I don’t think I can readily follow you anymore.”

Shiro’s head shot up in shock, expression crumpling. “I-I don’t know-,”

“You need to own up to your mistakes. You need to apologize to Keith,” she said, firmly. “Or else I think Lance might _actually_ shoot you. Like…no joke. He’s getting scarily serious about that.”

He grimaced but had a reluctant quirk of his mouth.

“Yeah…he might have mentioned something like that to me too. But- okay, Pidge, maybe I made some mistakes. But I still think this bond could be dangerous and used by the Galra against us in some way, I just have this horrible feeling about it. I can’t stop how I _feel_ like Keith wouldn’t be this way without the bond and that makes me think that it’s somehow forcing him to be this way.”

Pidge sighed, exhaustedly raking her fingers through her wild mass of hair. “Okay, maybe. But, we don’t know any of that for sure could happen. We don’t know _anything._ All we know is that Keith and Lance have been wanting time to figure it out in peace. And all we can actually do is respect them. This bond is here and by all accounts, it’s permanent. So, whatever could have happened for them before doesn’t really matter. Honestly, did Slav somehow get to you? It’s like you’re just stuck on what could have happened or could happen in the future, when none of it matters because right now in the present, you’re still being an asshole.”

Shiro made a disgusted face. “Oh gods, no…I _am_ being like him, aren’t I? Okay, okay, yeah you’re right. Yikes, putting it that way just set my stomach on fire.”

Pidge smirked at the reaction. “Yeah. Like, ‘if Keith _didn’t_ get a cute little shapeshifting kitten baby then maybe him and Lance wouldn’t bone’, like come on. Who cares? It’s not _your_ dick that Keith wants to-,”

“Okay, okay, please, I get that you’re all grown up with Voltron, but please I really don’t want to talk about sucking dick with a sixteen-year-old girl. Makes me feel like the feds would be on my case somehow,” he said, waving his arms.

Pidge rolled her eyes. “It’s not that big of a deal, I’m hella ace anyway it’s not like I’m going to want anyone’s dick in this hell scrap heap. And I know you’re gay so like, what’s there to hide? Unless _you_ sucked my _brother’s-,”_

“Pidge!” Shiro cried, with wide eyes. “I e _specially_ don’t want to talk about _Matthew Holt’s_ genitals with his baby sister, oh my gods…”

He paused, then scrambled to add on: “ _which_ I have never come into contact with, by the way!”

They stared at each other for a bit of time, blinking at the absurdity of where the conversation had gone and then dissolved into laughter. Shiro held a human hand over his eyes as Pidge sputtered out cackles.

She felt a harsh awkward tension that she had been holding finally leave her muscles and they settled into more peaceful relations. Shiro stared at his Galra hand and closed it into a fist.

“I really have been an asshole, huh?”

“Oh yeah, the grade A kind, for sure,” Pidge said, knocking her fist against his knee. “But that doesn’t mean things aren’t salvageable. Just take advantage of any opportunities that may present itself. Make sure that Keith feels comfortable about it.”

Shiro nodded, relaxing into a grateful smile. “Thank you, Katie. You’ve really grown into an incredible young woman. I’m sorry that you had to see me at…probably my absolute worst.”

She shrugged in response. “Yeah, it wasn’t the greatest feeling in the world. But, hey. They always say to never meet your heroes.”

He scoffed and rolled his eyes. “Jeez, I really don’t want to think about anyone thinking I’m a hero.”

“Paladin of Voltron, remember?” she said, an eyebrow up. “Half the universe basically worships us. Especially you, _Mr. Head.”_

Shiro groaned, raking his fingers down his face. “Please don’t remind me. I’m a huge fucking mess. No one should worship me.”

“No they probably shouldn’t. But, what are we going to do? _Stop_ being heroes? The universe needs us. And that means that even though you’re here and awesome and have a cool glowy hand, still doesn’t negate that you’re a human being and you make mistakes. What’s really important is how you go from here,” she said, patting him on the head before standing up.

“Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a date with the data crunching of the location probes across the Coalition and I plan to cry the entire time I type, so I need to get ready for the headache.”

Shiro just sighed and waved her on.

“Please drink lots of water and stay hydrated and don’t stay up too late.”

“Are you asking for another ‘you’re not my real dad’ type talk?”

“Oh my gods, please stop that’s like new trauma, I’m already dead.”

She snorted and left the room. She was cautiously optimistic on the forced bonding trial they were going to do tomorrow. She hoped everything would work out.

Or else Lance might really shoot Shiro.


	29. Chapter 29

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Plan and the Consequences for actions

“ _Paladins! Suit up, then report to the training deck for group training!”_

Keith and Lance were hanging out on the sofa, a day cycle after the movie night when Allura’s voice came over the speakers.

Both of their auras turned nervous and anxious. Keith grimaced, glancing over to Lance.

“This isn’t going to go well…” Keith muttered, already exhausted.

Lance took a deep breath, then entwined their fingers on the couch. “Just…whatever happens…don’t get too mad, okay _gatito_?”

Keith nodded, feeling guilty that Lance had to keep dealing with his uncontrollable anger already. Lance seemed to catch on to that and cupped his cheeks, shaking his head.

“Hey, it’s not your fault. Let’s just…get through this training, alright?” Lance said, gently.

Keith pulled him up and together they went to the changing rooms, pulling on their armor and checking on their bayards. They activated just fine and went through their different forms, too.

“Let’s get this over with,” Keith mumbled.

He tried to keep his irritation and anger in check, not wanting Lance to get sucked in.

When they got to the training deck, the team was already there. Allura was at the center, composed and in charge. Keith avoided the critical stare from Shiro nearby. Hunk and Pidge were looking between them both, nervously. Lance stuck close to him, aura churning with anticipation and anxiety.

“First, we have duo work. Keith, Shiro, you’re up first. Everyone else report up to the viewing deck,” she said, with as much authority as she could muster.

Keith clenched his jaw in irritation.

“Yeah, great. Just perfect,” he mumbled.

Lance set a firm hand on his shoulder in solidarity. He gave Keith a sympathetic smile.

“Good luck,” he whispered.

Soon enough it was just him and Shiro on the training deck. They stayed as far from each other as they could, without making it obvious they’d rather eat glass than work with each other again. Shiro’s expression stayed unreadable and distant. Keith crossed his arms and leaned against the wall.

Allura’s voice came in over the speaker. “Alright, Shiro. Keith. We’ll start you on something low. We…we know that there’s been a lag in your chemistry.”

Keith let out an unamused snort. “Yeah, you could say that again.”

Shiro gave him a disappointed look, as if it was all _Keith’s_ fault and Keith brought his bayard, activating it.

“What? You got something to say to me?” Keith asked, as he stalked up to Shiro’s face.

Shiro sighed. “You’ve never been able to talk things through, have you?”

“Oh yeah, like you’re so much better, huh? It’s not like you’ve gone out of your way to talk to me, have you?” Keith said, scoffing.

Shiro rolled his eyes, as if dealing with some troublesome child. It pissed Keith off to no end.

“Allura, will you just-just do this already?” Keith turned and called up to the viewing deck.

Strangely, the windows were all blacked out. Keith frowned. He reached through the bond, only feeling Lance’s nervous energy. He was still on the viewing deck.

“Princess?” Shiro called up, concerned. “Team?”

The lights on the deck suddenly started to strobe and flicker. Immediately Keith brought up his bayard, dropping into a defensive position. Shiro activated his Galra hand, standing a little away, but still back to back with Keith.

“Guys, what’s going on?” Keith yelled, starting to feel sort of anxious.

All of a sudden, the ceiling opened up and dropped seven gladiators. Keith’s fear level skyrocketed at the number of them. Seven was way off the charts on the levels. Their eyes looked glitched out and the wrong shade of blue. Their staffs in their hands spun and glowed.

“Shit. What the-,” Keith cursed, backing right into Shiro’s back.

“The castle must be malfunctioning again. We need to get back out the door. On my lead,” Shiro said behind him.

Keith scoffed, twirling his sword and blocking a gladiator’s attack.

“Yeah right, fuck your lead!” Keith yelled out.

He could imagine the disappointed sigh and grimace that Shiro had to have done at that, even as both of them started fighting. The gladiators were way levelled up beyond their usual training and felt like an actual fight for their lives.

Keith was immediately deciding that their petty fight wasn’t worth seeing Shiro die.

“Behind you!” Shiro yelled out, alarmed.

Keith spun on the spot, barely able to bend backwards in time under the staff going for his head and he planted his hands on the ground, kicking his feet up and taking the gladiator down by throwing it with his leg, crashing right into the one fighting Shiro.

Shiro looked surprised by that, but that hesitation caused him to lose focus and miss the one coming for him.

“Shiro!” Keith yelled on instinct. “Three o’clock!”

The man whirled around just as the staff hit him right in the stomach, sending him flying and landing right next to Keith still crouched on the ground. He groaned, holding the area. Keith sighed, getting back up and offering Shiro a hand.

Shiro didn’t hesitate to take it, then they turned back around, back to back. This time with more purpose and camaraderie.

“Keith.”

He turned and caught Shiro’s eye for a split second.

“I got your six,” he said, determined.

Keith’s hand clenched on his sword at the familiar phrase, which Shiro had said to him since he was a kid. It was meant to be Shiro’s way of telling Keith that he wasn’t alone. That Shiro was protecting Keith and on his side.

In just that tick that it took to absorb the phrase and understand it, staring into Shiro’s steely gaze that translated so much emotion and history…Keith felt the world turn upside down.

Keith took a short breath and nodded.

Together, they fought.

It was intense and a long battle. It must have lasted nearly half a varga.

Keith sliced through two gladiators after intense parrying and teaming up on him. Shiro crushed the head of one going after him and Keith threw his BOM blade into another heading for Shiro’s head.

The last one they took down together. They fought side by side and Keith couldn’t deny that it felt so comfortable and familiar that he had to hold back genuine tears. Just like stepping back into his childhood room in that damn shack, even if he was grown and out of the house for years.

The gladiator went right for Shiro’s injury and Keith leaned forward to block it easily. Shiro’s galra hand glowed and he roared, channeling intense determined rage and Keith watched in awe as Shiro stabbed right through the gladiator’s chest, right from the front through the back.

In that moment, Keith caught an uncomfortable glimpse into the Galra’s Champion of the arena.

Keith fell forward as the gladiator disappeared. He panted on his hands and knees. Shiro bent at the waist, wiping at his sweat on his forehead.

“Are…are there…more coming?” Keith asked, looking at the ceiling.

The lights fluttered back on, the power surging, Relief filled Keith’s system, as he turned and fell onto his back, exhausted.

“Oh thank gods,” Keith wheezed out.

“You did well,” Shiro said, sitting next to where Keith laid back.

Keith didn’t respond. He sat up, looking around up at the viewing deck. It was still blackened out.

“I need to go find Lance. Make sure he’s okay,” Keith muttered, groaning as he slowly got to his feet.

“Wait, Keith.”

He stopped, his back to Shiro.

“I’m sorry.”

Keith took a long deep breath, closing his eyes.

“I’m sorry for everything. For not listening to you. For not trusting your judgment. For doubting Lance’s intentions. For not trying to see your perspective. And more than anything…I’m sorry that my discomfort with this soul bond put you two in danger.”

Shiro paused, getting quieter.

“All of this was because…because I couldn’t help but remember the Galra exploiting my emotions and my relationships to break me. When I heard that…that you and Lance had such a deep bond that got so far in your heads…I couldn’t help hearing all the alarm bells. Seeing a future where the Galra used the bond to hurt and-and destroy you. I never tried to understand that this is different. That _you’re_ different,” He continued.

Keith bit his lip, fighting back loud, wracking sobs.

“Please, I-I can’t lose you. Not like I lost Adam, by doing the same thing. Sabotaging something great because of my own selfishness. I was wrong. _Very_ wrong. On all levels. Will you ever forgive me?”

Shiro’s tone was unlike Keith had ever heard. Soft and full of regret. Keith turned, crossing his arms and glared at him.

“What you did put me and Lance in danger and threatened the stability of Voltron. You lost your patience, so you ended up losing your focus. You made me feel like I was only doing wrong and that shit wasn’t okay. I’m not that punk ass kid from the foster system anymore. I’m an adult and I’m going to make decisions that you don’t agree with. Lance has been beating himself up for weeks and so have I. What you did hurt us. A lot.”

Shiro grimaced, bowing his head in shame. It wasn’t something that Keith had ever seen before. Keith lost some tension, looking to the ground.

“But…I guess…I’m sorry, too. I shouldn’t have blamed you so…aggressively. I didn’t mean it. I don’t…I can’t ever _hate_ you. And I especially shouldn’t have brought the rest of the team into it. It wasn’t right,” he said, reluctantly.

He slowly brought his gaze up to look Shiro in the eyes. Shiro was smiling at him, sentimental. Keith huffed out a breath, hesitantly smiling back.

It was like piece by piece a weight was being pulled off his chest.

“But one thing…”

Keith reached over, offering a hand for Shiro to stand up. He took it, fluidly coming to his feet with a relieved expression. Then all of Keith’s pent up rage and anger over everything came full force. He lost himself in the overwhelming fire hot red.

He ended up reeling back and punching Shiro right across the cheekbone. The man staggered over, human hand coming to cover the spot.

“That’s for sending Lance to the healing pods. Asshole.”

Shiro grimaced, then sighed. “Okay…I might have deserved that one…”

“And that was lovely, paladins!”

Both of them jumped in alarm, immediately coming back into defensive positions. The viewing deck revealed itself with the team in the window. Keith blinked in surprise, then he felt through his bond, as Lance gave him a nervous wave and the makings of a hesitant smile.

He felt through Lance’s feelings of anxiety, trepidation and strangely…guilt?

“Holy shit!” Keith exclaimed, as he pointed his sword up at the deck. “You guys set this up?”

Pidge smirked, shrugging from behind the control panel. “Maybe. Well? Do you hate each other now?”

Keith’s mouth dropped open, then sighed, dropping his sword. “Lance, was this your doing?”

Lance scrambled to the window and put a hand to it, desperate. “Keith, I love, love, love you and I’m so sorry, but I just couldn’t take your rage sessions anymore and I just didn’t want you feeling so bad anymore and I’m really sorry, please don’t be mad!”

“Just…get down here, will you? We’re both exhausted,” Shiro said, grunting. “And bruised.”

The team all filed out quickly, shutting down the power.

Keith chuckled. “Speak for yourself, old man. I could go two more rounds.”

Shiro’s mouth quirked, eyes sparkling. “Don’t you want to go see that soulmate of yours? He’s probably worried you’re mad at him.”

“Nah,” Keith said, just as Lance came running in first, instantly rushing to hug Keith. “He’d have felt it.”

Lance sniffled in his shoulder, sighing with relief. Their auras converged and intertwined, bright red and blues just like always. They were both elated and relieved and overjoyed.

“I guess so,” Shiro said, looking on with genuine fondness.

“Oh and one more thing,” Lance said, stepping back and with an impressive whirlwind, he spun and punched Shiro on the _other_ side of his face. It showed him off as ambidextrous, since Keith used a right hook.

Surprisingly, that was the one that sent him to the ground. The rest of the team stumbled back in shock. Keith grabbed Lance’s arm, as he shook out his other hand with a wince.

“And that’s for sending Keith away for a week. Now we’re _all_ even.”

“What the-Lance!” Keith said, dragging him away. “I thought you said you were over that!”

Lance scoffed, turning dark. “As if I’m ever going to be _over_ that. You nearly died! I never got my chance to really healthily cope with that, because all this immediately got in the way. So, yeah. Here we are.”

Hunk sighed, as Shiro groaned, turning over and holding his entire face. He ended up spitting out some blood onto the ground.

“I’ll get him some ice. Or…all the ice,” Hunk said, exhausted. “Can we _please_ be done with this now? All of you?”

Shiro, Lance and Keith looked at each other, then they all sighed and relaxed. The energies around the bond were settling into much better equilibriums.

“Yeah, I’m good now,” Lance said, waving his hand out with another wince. “Get me some ice, too. Damn, dude, is your face made of _rocks?_ Jesus…”

Shiro accepted Allura’s help to his feet, gingerly poking at his face. He looked at Lance, almost impressed.

“When did you get so strong? I think it hurts worse than Keith’s…” he said, gruffly.

Lance smiled, sidling up to Keith and wrapping his non-injured hand around Keith’s shoulders.

“I had my own rage sessions you know,” he said, mildly bragging. “The past month and a half, I’ve been really bulking up.”

Pidge just shook her head. “Gods damn testosterone. Doesn’t matter if you’re all gay, still brutes.”

“Okay, but he deserved it,” Keith muttered, as petty as ever.

“Yeah…I kind of did,” Shiro said, grimacing and then spitting out more blood. “You kids are way too strong, though. This is almost scary…”

Lance huffed. “Good. Keeps you from pulling that kind of bullshit again.”

Shiro wiped at the blood on his mouth, making eye contact with Keith. He relaxed into another regretful face.

“I really, really am sorry,” he mumbled, losing his dignified air.

“It’s okay, Shiro,” Keith said, as he glanced to Lance. He smiled down at Keith and nodded, as they communicated through their bond.

“And from now on, _we_ got your six.”

He extended his fist and Shiro melted into the most sentimental smile he could have. He knocked his human fist against Keith’s.

Keith wasn’t sure if he fully forgave Shiro just yet. It was still fresh over his mind, the pain of betrayal and anger. But as the brothers smiled at each other genuinely for the first time in weeks, Keith felt much more satisfied and content.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so i see you all wondering...wait, that's it? but that's the big finale, is it not? shouldn't it be?
> 
> OH now kiddos we've got more things coming. strap in, y'all it's about to get CRAZY


	30. Chapter 30

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team is on the mend, until a new planet's traditions get in the way
> 
> Warning: a very small tiny bit of suggestive material, but nothing actually happens

The days following that had Lance and Keith being left gifts and given tons of the best of Hunk’s cooking. The team all felt ashamed on how they acted, especially Shiro.

Lance was pretty sure Shiro was even thinking about giving up his arm.

“Should we somehow stop this?” Lance said, picking up a wrapped gift box full of alien sweets with a black ribbon tied to it. It had been left in front of Lance’s door in the middle of the night. “It’s almost making me feel guilty. I mean…we both literally punched him.”

Keith hummed, admiring his new dagger that Shiro had given him. He was casually laying back at the head of Lance’s bed with only a pair of leggings and a crop top. Lance had learned fairly early on into their relationship, that Keith had a _thing_ for crop tops.

“Why don’t we let him grovel for a little bit longer?” Keith said, smirking. “I mean, Allura immediately put him in a healing pod, so he didn’t even keep the bruises. And I’m pretty sure he was looking at the alien catalogues for pheobly subscription boxes of skincare products.”

Lance gasped. “The ones from the Ukor company? The ones that make my favorite moisturizer?”

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure,” Keith said, twirling his dagger between his fingers. “And he’s totally letting me win on the training deck. I’m building up my blackmail material.”

Lance chuckled, sitting on the other side of the bed, opening up the box. He popped a red one in his mouth, savoring the strange alien sweet. It tasted like if strawberries were dipped in yogurt, then rolled around in mango juice.

“Wow, gods this is some good stuff. Want some?” he offered the box.

Keith took a black one and sniffed it, suspicious. He tilted his head, curiously and took a small bite.

“Woah, that’s…like exactly like dark chocolate,” Keith said, eyes bulging. “Holy shit…do aliens have chocolate?”

Lance hurried to pop another black one in his mouth, analyzing the taste. Just like really dark chocolate.

“Dude, how did Shiro even find this shit? And how’d he pay for it?” Lance asked, moaning in pleasure at the sweets.

Keith was silent for a moment, making Lance look over. Keith was staring at him, a faint blush painting over his cheeks and the tip of his ears. Lance felt through the bond, noting a distinct reddish pink overlay.

Lance slowly smirked. “Keith? You alright there?”

He blinked and awkwardly cleared his throat and looked away. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine.”

Lance hummed, moving closer and then purposefully biting into one of the sweets that had a cream center. The milky white substance dripped down Lance’s lips and Keith stared as Lance slowly sucked in his lower lip to catch it all.

“Jesus Christ, Lance…” Keith said, voice cracking.

Lance leaned forward on his hand into Keith’s space, the other hand coming up to offer Keith the other half of the sweet. Keith opened his mouth, obediently and slowly closed his lips over Lance’s fingers.

Lance’s heart pounded with anticipation and sucked in a breath as Keith’s hot mouth lingered around the tips of Lance’s fingers. Keith kept careful eye contact on him as he released Lance and chewed on the sweet.

“Is it good?” Lance asked, voice turning husky and deep.

Keith’s eyes sparkled and the bond clouded around them with a new intent.

As they just started their new kind of bond/relationship, they hadn’t yet explored the more…intimate parts of the other’s minds. They knew that there was that layer to them, that they could _really_ have an entirely otherworldly experience with the bond…but things and problems had kept them from really focusing on it.

Lance didn’t want to pressure Keith into anything, but he really was starting to get curious.

“It’s pretty good…” Keith said, clearing his throat.

Lance grinned, crawling fully onto the bed and settling between Keith’s legs. Keith laid back as Lance loomed over him, hands caging Keith in around his head.

“Want some more?” Lance asked, licking his lips. He slowly bending down and hovering over Keith’s mouth.

Keith reached up to curl his fingers in Lance’s hair and was about to close the distance between them, when they were interrupted.

“ _Paladins! There is an emergency distress call! Report to the bridge immediately!”_

They both startled so hard they actually slammed their foreheads together. They both hissed in pained breaths and backed away as they rubbed at the spot.

“Aw, come on!” Lance said, groaning.

Keith sighed, moving to stand up. Akira perked up from her little nest in the corner and joined them. Lance grumbled as he took Keith’s hand in help of getting up.

“You okay?” Keith asked, pointing to Lance’s head.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine,” Lance said, not in any hurry. “But, we’re picking that one up later. Guarantee.”

Keith’s aura bounced around in excitement, colors shifting in bright colors, deep in richness. He only smirked in real life, though.

“Count on it, sharpshooter.”

They headed off to the bridge, jogging through the halls and were not surprisingly the last to get there. Allura turned, sighing in relief.

“Oh good,” she said, bringing up coordinates. “Hurry to your lions. We’re going to have to immediately dismantle this fleet as soon as we go through the wormhole.”

“Right-o, princess. Heading off now!” Lance said, sending her some finger guns.

He sent the usual urging of safety and self-care through the bond, which Keith responded in kind. They nodded to each other and shot down to their lions.

As the bond settled into a new equilibrium, the distance over the castle stopped becoming a problem, not even dampening the edges of their connection. It made Lance far more stable in how he felt, knowing that Keith was always going to be there.

Lance grinned as he felt both the red and blue lions in his mind. He felt the clouds of sunspot warmth and cool water.

“Gods, I love this bond. So quiznacking cool.”

He felt Keith’s amusement and he hurried up into the cockpit as he felt the usual rumblings of going through the wormhole. He piloted out as he saw the rest of the lions shooting out.

Lance brought up the feed on the screen.

“Alright team, we need to protect the planet at all costs. Their system has mass amounts of energy crystals like the Balmera and if the Galra takes over, then they can have a huge resource farm,” Shiro said, seriously.

“So, what’s the plan?” Keith asked, imitating his tone of voice.

Shiro directed the lions to the far moon. “We have to lure them out to further space, outside of the planet’s reaches. Then we take them down.”

“Oh, I’m pretty good at being alluring,” Lance volunteered, smirking at Keith’s face on the feed. “You can ask the samurai over there…”

The rest of the team rolled their eyes, but hid fond smiles. Keith clicked his tongue as he turned pink.

“Please don’t try and seduce the Galra,” Keith said, exasperated.

Lance feigned a pout. “Aw, but I’m so _good_ at seducing Galra…”

Keith actually choked at that, bursting into a bright red flush. Lance grinned in victory, reveling in how he could rile his bonded mate up like that.

“Alright, alright, Lance take the lead with Pidge to lure them out. Hunk, Keith and I will follow along. Lance…don’t actually seduce anyone,” Shiro said, hiding a smile.

“Fine, you guys are no fun,” Lance said, shooting out and around to garner the attention of the fleet. Pidge followed close behind.

As soon as they were spotted, fighters came pouring out, as per the usual.

Lance started by aggressively disabling the docking bays as Pidge shot down the fighters. He froze the obvious lookout windows on the bridge, turning their attention right onto them.

The ion cannon moved, obviously revving up for a hit to them. Lance quickly shot around to avoid the blast. Luckily, he actually made the cannon turn on its other ship, blasting it through the hull.

“Hey! I think these guys are actually really stupid!” Lance called out, laughing.

The feed brought up Pidge, who was cackling with him. “They totally are. And now they’re following us, too.”

Lance noticed that and he successfully turned the entire fleet away from the planet and towards them in open space.

“Wow, I didn’t even need to use Lance Seduction Tactics ™,” he said, proud of himself.

“I can’t believe you somehow managed to convey a trademark in a real-life conversation,” Pidge said, looking disgusted.

“Let’s go, Pidgeotto, I choose you!”

“Stop saying that, asshole!”

Lance cackled as he blasted through more of the hull, making the fleet even more angry and following them farther into space. That was when the other three lions joined the fray. Lance hummed into the surge of energy through the bond, as both red and blue lions immediately absorbed into each other.

Keith didn’t even have to tell Lance what he wanted to do before they ended up doing it, spinning together, a freeze ray and a fire jet burning through the middle of the hull. It blasted through the main engine at the center and then the fleet exploded from the inside out.

Lance whooped in victory, as Keith sent him an amused smirk over the feed.

“We didn’t have to form Voltron! So easy,” he said, relaxing back in the chair.

Shiro nodded. “Good job, you two. It’s obvious that connection of yours is a real asset.”

“Obvious, huh?” Keith asked, an eyebrow up. “And yet we had to fight you for weeks.”

“Yes, yes, I said I was sorry!” Shiro said, hands up in the air.

Lance chuckled, winking at Keith over the feed.

“Paladins,” Allura’s face interrupted the conversation. “Job well done. Now, land on the surface, we have a meeting with the planet’s Head Priestess. She’s the one with the most power over the energy crystals. It’s essential that we gain her trust for an addition to the Coalition.”

“Copy that, princess,” Shiro said, logging the time of the mission. “Alright, let’s head down, team.”

They all followed along, teasing with each other after such an easy mission. Lance remained enamored by Keith’s aura through the bond. Keith sent him a fond smile over the feed and he smiled back.

The bond never gets old to either of them.

The planet was called Xeronrossthenfoundlen (a mouthful if you asked Lance). He renamed it Xeron in his head so he didn’t have to try and remember all those syllables. It had massive spirals of buildings with incredible feats of architecture. The head priestess’ temple rested on the edge of a cliff, next to a giant waterfall into a sunken ravine. The city surrounding the temple cut through the forest and had high walls protecting it.

They all sat their lions down just on the outside of the walls, heading out and meeting back up as a team.

“The castle should be down soon, apparently the head priestess wants us all to convene with her for at least a week. Something about the crystals needing our general energy signals for us to be able to be deemed worthy of an alliance,” Shiro explained, as they all followed him to the giant gates of the city.

“Wow, a week?” Pidge asked, surprised. “Well, alright. Guess we’re basically on vacation, now.”

“Oh thank gods,” Lance said, as they were passed through the gates. “I could use a vacation.”

Keith sidled up to him, easily slipping his hand to entwine their fingers. Lance smiled over at him, giddy at the feeling through the bond. Keith tried to act casual about it but couldn’t hide the faint blushing around his cheeks.

“Are you the paladins of Voltron?”

They all met the person who spoke, a nasally voiced man. The people of Xeron-blah-blah were fairly humanoid in appearance, except with entirely long necks. They were like giraffes of people, standing at a usual seven to eight feet, just by neck height alone.

Keith kept staring at their necks, making Lance giggle to himself. Keith always seemed distracted by how alien the aliens sometimes looked. As Shiro introduced them all, they found out that the man was to escort them through the city up to the temple.

The city was bustling with people, all going about their days, happy and content. It was as though they never noticed the giant Galran occupation trying to steal all their energy crystals.

And Lance noticed that a lot of the necks had layers of chokers, full of crystals.

The crystals were a spiced orange color, reminding Lance of Halloween. And almost all of the adults wore them around their necks, ranging in how many layers. None of the citizens seemed to care much for the paladins, some only barely noticing their appearance in the town.

This struck Lance as odd, not that he was really expecting a hero’s welcome…except he kind of was.

“It’s weird no one seems to care about us, huh?” Keith whispered, suspicious.

“Yeah…just what I was thinking. And no one seems to be like…scared of the galra. Shouldn’t there be more…I don’t know, awareness going on?” Lance said, quietly.

Keith shook his head, frowning. “I don’t like this. Something isn’t right.”

They didn’t have time to dwell on it though, as they were led through up to the giant steps into the Head Priestess’ temple. They all stopped and stared at the incredible incline.

“Oh gods…I’m going to faint,” Hunk said, whimpering.

“Can we just jet-pack?” Pidge asked, gulping.

“No!” the attendant said, looking horrified. “That would defile the temple! The steps are a rite of passage all travelers must take when meeting the High Priestess!”

Lance groaned at the number of steps as they all trudged up them. They had to have walked up hundreds, maybe a thousand steps. It took _forever._ Hunk nearly did faint, Shiro taking it upon himself to hold the guy up as they finished the climb.

The attendant didn’t look winded at all as the paladins all panted at the top. Lance’s legs shivered as they felt like jelly.

“Gods, please tell me there’s an elevator to get back down,” he groaned out, bending over at the waist.

Keith even looked overworked, wiping at sweat on his forehead.

“Now follow me, please. Her Blessedness is waiting for you,” the attendant said, scuttling along.

“Come on. Sooner we get this done, the sooner we can rest,” Shiro said, sighing.

They all groaned again but followed diligently. The promise of rest was enough to get Lance to put one foot in front of the other.

The temple was made of what looked like white polished marble, statuesque pillars of Xeron long necks holding up the vaulted ceiling. The place was deserted, other than the occasional attendant hurrying along.

“Wow, this place has some money…” Lance whispered, impressed. “Like some Grecian temple.”

“And they all wear togas, too,” Keith whispered, pointing to a group that all looked like they wore draping around them.

Lance snorted with Keith, bond playing around with their humor.

Finally, they came to a stop in front of a giant chair on a dais, a long necked Xeron with layers and layers of crystals on her neck. She looked over the paladins as they all bowed their heads, respectfully.

“Your Blessedness, we are honored to be invited to your temple,” Shiro said, hands at his back and leader voice coming through.

“Yes, the paladins of Voltron. You have helped clear our system of the disease known as the Galra Empire. You have my gratitude,” she said, haughtily.

_Oh great, it’s going to be some stuck-up people here, huh?_

Keith must have felt that sentiment as he subtly huffed a laugh under his breath, eyes glancing to catch Lance’s gaze. Their bond flitted through the small amount of space between them, engaging their humor.

“Ah, what _is_ that noise?”

They all startled as the Priestess clutched at her chest, shaking her head. She narrowed her eyes at the paladins.

“Was that you?”

They all looked at each other, confused. Lance shrugged at Keith, bond engaging further as they tried to remember any noises. The Priestess spoke up again.

“Ah, there it is again! It’s…it’s coming from you!”

She pointed a finger, straight at Lance’s head. He gaped, looking around.

“Wha-I didn’t even say anything?”

She rose from her throne, piercing eyes over them.

“You have a soul bond, do you not?”

Lance and Keith froze, glancing to each other. The High Priestess caught this, pointing to both of them.

“You _both_ have a soul bond, don’t you?”

Keith narrowed his eyes at her, irritated. “It’s not really your business. What does it matter?”

She sucked in a breath, nostrils flaring in fury. The attendants near her scrambled back, eyes wide as they looked between them all.

“Soul bonds are _forbidden_ on my planet.”


	31. Chapter 31

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sacrifices must be made for the good of all

“I’m sorry… _what?_ ” Lance asked, winded.

Keith stepped forward, moving in front of Lance, protectively. “Your _Blessedness,_ our soul bond is private. It has nothing to do with you.”

The Priestess’ fingers (nails long and disgusting) flailed over the air.

“How _dare_ you bring your wretched bond that defiles your souls into this sacred temple and before me!” she screeched, shrilly.

The rest of the team all looked at each other, alarmed. Shiro stepped forward, trying for a more diplomatic approach.

“Your Blessedness, we… _apologize…_ for any offense we unknowingly have caused. The soul bond between two of our paladins is new. They have very strong feelings about it. They have worked hard to build the connection between them. We were not aware of your view on soul bonds,” he said, hands in the air in a placating gesture.

She clenched her fingers into a clawed disgusting fist.

“If you wish for an alliance with me, you shall present yourselves to the crystals for the trials,” she said, unyielding eyes glaring at Lance and Keith. “And those two bonded heretics must _never_ come into contact with each other the entire time you are here.”

Keith felt as both him and Lance’s hearts fell out of their chests.

 _Are you_ kidding _me? Again?_

Lance stepped forward, snarling with a dark look over his face. “You can’t make-,”

“That’s not happen-,” Keith said, at the same time.

Then both of them were pulled away, hands covering their mouths. Shiro grabbed Keith and Hunk seemed to have grabbed Lance.

“I’m sorry, your Blessedness. I think it’s best we wait outside for the rest of our team. We can discuss this further, then,” Shiro said, bowing his head one more time.

Pidge pushed them all out as Keith and Lance struggled against Hunk and Shiro. Keith tried to bite, but then only felt the zing from the metal hand. He flinched and stumbled. They were then thrown to the ground as they got back out the temple.

Keith scrambled back up, glaring at Shiro. “Oh, are you just so glad that she somehow hates bonds, huh? Don’t even stick up for us? Wow and I really thought you were trying.”

Shiro sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Keith, I’m not on her side. I’m just trying to keep things civil. We _need_ to gain her trust. They have massive amounts of power, here.”

“Are you fucking _kidding_ me?” Lance wheeled around, eyes crazed and fuming. “And so, _again,_ we are the ones that have to go through hell, we are the ones to _suffer_ so that Voltron can get stronger? The one thing that’s been _good_ in our lives since being sucked into space. And we have to keep fighting to maintain it? Gods, _fuck_ this!”

Lance ripped off his helmet and threw it to the marble floor, angrily. He turned away, grabbing at his hair. He stalked away to the edge of the platform, leaning his forehead against a pillar. Keith felt the rolling frustration like a pot of magma in Lance’s chest.

“Just…give us a moment. We’ll wait here until Allura and Coran get here. We need to talk things out,” Keith said, quietly.

The rest of them gave them sympathetic looks, Shiro laying a hand on Keith’s shoulder and squeezing.

“We’ll be right over there by the other pillars. And really…I am on your side this time,” he said, gently.

Keith sighed, nodding. “I know.”

They all huddled on the other side of the massive temple, around the corner of the entrance. Keith settled his back against the pillar, next to Lance, waiting for the other to speak up.

“I can’t…I can’t _do_ this again. I’m sick of it. Sick of all these people forcing themselves between us,” Lance said, finally. He unclenched his hands and turned to look at Keith.

It broke Keith’s heart seeing how devastated Lance’s expression was and he took off his own helmet, reaching up and cupping Lance’s cheek. He sent comfort and stability as much as he could through the bond.

Lance closed his eyes, grimacing. “And you think we need to do it.”

It was a statement, rather than a question. Keith knew it was because their bond had gotten that strong that they could tell a general idea of what the other was thinking, especially if it was emotionally charged.

“I think we don’t have much of a choice,” Keith said, reluctantly. “Lance, I’m sorry. I hate this, like I’ve hated every other time this has happened. But, we have a duty here. We need to get this alliance. And I just know that Allura is going to make us do it, anyway.”

“What if we just go back to the castle? Spend the week there in orbit? We don’t _have_ to be here, do we?” Lance asked, desperately. “I mean, we aren’t the leaders, it’s not like these crystals mean anything to us!”

“Lance…” Keith said, stepping closer and dropped his helmet to the ground. “You heard them. If we want this alliance, they require all of us here to…do whatever with these crystals. And these people are really, really powerful.”

Lance’s face pinched and he turned so he pressed his back against the pillar, pulling Keith by the hand so that he was tucked in Lance’s embrace.

“Damn it. I’m so gods damn tired of this,” Lance whispered, breath hitching against Keith’s ear.

Keith held on to Lance tighter. “I know. Me too.”

“A whole other week of this,” Lance said, exhausted. “I can’t believe it. We just managed to smooth things over with Shiro. _How_ do we have such bad luck?”

“I guess the universe thought the two of us together without some interference would be too powerful. The gods nerfed us because if the bond got too strong between us, Zarkon would be toast within a day,” Keith said, trying for a joke.

Lance let out a laugh, stepping back and wiping at his wet eyes. “Yeah, you’re totally right. We would be unstoppable.”

Keith cupped Lance’s cheeks and gently swiped under his eyes to dry the tears.

“We can do this, right? It’s not like we’ll be lightyears apart, again. And the bond feels like we’re still together, even when we’re not. Coran said he and his wife were separated all the time and didn’t feel the distance. We’re getting better settled into it, so we can handle a temple’s distance, right?” Keith said, confident in Lance’s stability.

Lance sighed, reluctantly nodding. “Okay. Fine, I’ll do it. For you.”

Keith placed a gentle kiss on Lance’s nose, then captured his lips in a soft embrace. Lance responded, hands closing around Keith’s hips. It was a short kiss, one full of promise and devotion.

When they broke apart, they set their foreheads together, reveling in the bond swirling around them.

Lance sighed. “After this, we get a real vacation. Maybe that will be what we ask of Shiro to forgive him. We go somewhere pretty, full of life. Just you and me. That will be our Farsnow ceremony. We’ll spend days with each other, deepening the bond. And…”

Keith opened his eyes as Lance did.

“And loving each other. With no one else to deal with.”

Keith nodded, melting into a fond smile. “That sounds perfect. But, for now…”

He stepped back out of Lance’s arms, reaching to his belt and taking it off. Lance’s eyebrows shot up in surprise and confusion. Then Keith offered the belt with his BOM blade to him.

“Take my blade.”

Lance gaped, eyes bulging. “Wha-Keith, that’s like…one of your most important things you own! That’s one of the _only_ things you own!”

Keith nodded, placing the belt in Lance’s outstretched hands. “It is. It’s probably my mother’s. The only thing I have of her’s. And I want you to borrow it. So that you know I trust you implicitly. And then you can give it back when this is done.”

Lance stared at the belt then looked up with sparkling eyes and a lip quiver. Keith felt the disbelief and love through the bond. He chuckled, nodding.

“I mean it.”

Lance sucked in a breath, drawing himself up with a straight back. He wrapped the belt around him, keeping the blade in sight on his hip.

“I promise to take care of it. Not a scratch or dent. I’ll even polish it for you,” Lance said, voice clouding with emotion. His expression was one of determination and reverence.

Keith grinned. “I believe you. Now come on, I think I see Allura and Coran dying on the steps.”

They were in fact, about halfway up and struggling to climb the steps. The rest of the team had congregated to watch them.

“You think we should go help?” Hunk asked, as Coran held a stitch in his side.

“Nope, it’s some sacred rite of passage or whatever. If we had to, then so do they,” Pidge said, not at all pitying.

Lance clutched to Keith’s side, head turned into his shoulder. It was obvious that he was trying to soak up as much physical attention as possible. Keith squeezed Lance’s hip and stroked his thumb over the jut of the bone.

Shiro gave them a sad look, which Keith returned with a shrug.

“So, you’ve decided to do it?” Shiro asked, as perceptive as ever.

Lance whined a little, clutching harder. Keith nodded, reluctantly.

“For the good of Voltron…or whatever. And Allura was probably going to make us do it anyway,” Keith said, sighing.

Hunk pouted, upset. “I hate it. You both don’t deserve all this all the time.”

“You’re damn right we don’t,” Lance grumbled, petulantly.

Keith turned his head and gave Lance a soft kiss in his hair. “It’ll be fine. We can handle it. This isn’t as bad as being separated over galaxies.”

Shiro grimaced at that, hand coming up to rub at the back of his neck. “Yeah…I guess so.”

Allura and Coran made it up the steps, Coran falling to his back and panting. Allura was a little winded, but not near as much as the rest of them had been. She cocked her head in confusion at the team congregated outside.

“Why aren’t you speaking with the High Priestess?” she asked, hands coming to her hips.

Shiro was the one that explained the situation, making both Alteans freeze in alarm. Coran shot up to a scramble to his feet and his hands clenched into fists at his sides. He breathed heavily from the exercise of the steps and he sweated down his face.

“You’ve _can’t_ be serious!” Coran said, mustache ruffling. “How _disrespectful-_ what kind of place _forbids_ a soul bond? Alteans _lived_ for soul bonds! Our people revered them! This is an outrage, I will not stand for this anymore!”

Lance straightened up and exchanged a glance to Keith. Lance turned and melted into a grateful smile at Coran.

“Thanks for always sticking up for us, Coran. You’re the best. But, we’ve already decided that we’ll go along with it, so that we can get the alliance. They’re really powerful and the Coalition needs them,” he said, sighing.

Allura looked surprised. “Really? Are you sure?”

Keith nodded as Lance finally stepped away from him. They dropped their hands to entwine their fingers.

“We figured that you’d try to convince us, anyway,” Keith said, shrugging. “Plus…it really isn’t that much distance.”

Allura nodded, losing tension in her shoulders. “Thank you, you two. I really hoped I wasn’t going to have to beg you. This is incredibly mature of you. After this, you two deserve a break. We will find a way to give you at least a few days off to yourselves.”

She turned to an open satchel bag she had strapped around her shoulder, reaching in and pulling out their baby kitten Akira.

“Maybe he can help you two,” she said, as Lance gasped in delight.

Akira meowed and Lance cradled the baby to his chest. Keith chuckled, scratching him on the head. The team all followed behind Allura and Shiro back in the temple, Lance and Keith giving each other lingering looks before reluctantly separating to opposite sides of the lineup.

The Priestess sat again on the throne and smirked at the sight of Lance and Keith so far apart.

“So, have you agreed to my terms?” she asked, as though she already knew the answer.

Allura gave the two angry paladins a glance, before nodding. “Yes, your Blessedness. We will accept those terms. We wish for a cordial relationship and… _respect…_ your traditions.”

“Good. We have prepared accommodations for you all,” she said, waving to an attendant. “The first trial shall start tonight, when the moons are in alignment. You shall be summoned when it is your turn. You are encouraged to meditate until then. Free your souls from any worldly tethers.”

The attendants all broke up the group, Lance being led straight off to the left with Allura and Hunk, Keith off to the right with Pidge and Shiro. Keith couldn’t help looking over his shoulder, making eye contact with Lance. They communicated a soft loving tendril between the two of them.

It felt like a goodbye for now, reminding Keith of a time in his life that people kept leaving him. It made his heart ache and his palms sweaty. He turned back around, just as the hallways forked.

He was led off to the right again, coming to the ends of the temple. The attendant bowed to him as he stopped in front of what seemed to be his room.

“You shall be first in the trials. You will be brought food and you must wear the ceremonial robes laid out for you. We thank you for your service to our people.”

Keith nodded. “Yeah, alright.”

He headed into the room, closing the door and looking around.

It was sparse, with only a small thin mattress on the ground, a tiny bathroom, an open wardrobe full of robes and draping and a small writing desk was tucked into the corner. The walls were made of the polished marble and Keith felt the emptiness.

He sighed, stripping off his armor and draping himself in one of the white togas, cinching it at the waist with a gold tassel. He laid back on the mattress on the ground, instinctually feeling through the bond.

Lance responded immediately, a blue wave of love and gentle embrace. Keith closed his eyes and felt himself fall into it, smelling the saltwater and rolling through the bright blue. He sent a strong determined loving tendril back.

_I’m here. I’ll be here forever. No one can change that. No matter how hard they try._


	32. Chapter 32

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance finds out what happens in the trials. And decides he wants out.

Lance was trying to distract himself with playing with Akira and admiring Keith’s blade. He ran a thumb over the symbol, laying back on the cardboard mattress on the ground.

He sighed, already bored. He looked through all the drawers and wardrobe for anything to do. Not even any books.

“Weird ass monks,” he muttered, irritated.

Being separated from Keith meant they couldn’t talk or entertain each other so he just sat at the writing desk. He fished out the stack of parchment, deciding he might as well just write some weird journal type.

He passed the time by writing down his adventures, acting as though he were writing to his mother. He wrote in Spanish, because it just felt right. Plus, if someone found it he didn’t want just anyone to be able to read it.

Lance took special attention to describing the bond with as much detail as he could. He was probably never going to show this to his actual mother, but it made him feel better. It was a tactile experience, giving him a reality of the bond. Like applying words to something so ethereal could let himself realize that it _was_ reality. That he lived in the colors of Keith.

After some time, food was left in front of his door. It was just as sparse and bland as his room. It was like eating plain white rice and drinking water for dinner.

Akira nibbled on some cat food that was left, apparently the needs of his little kitten was taken into account, at least. Lance sighed, laying back on the bed after getting as much out on paper as he could. After those hours, turning the daylight to night, he felt…a strange muting of the bond. Like Keith was much farther away than before. It set his worrying up a notch.

He jumped at a chime on his communicator, digging it out of his armor. He frowned at a text from Keith.

_Keith:_

_> The trials hurt a lot. You’re up next. I can’t get to you in time. Be prepared. Don’t let them break you. There’s more to this than we know._

This jumpstarted his anxiety and he shot up to a sitting position.

“’The trials hurt a lot’?” He repeated to himself, confused. “If Keith was in pain…or even upset…how’d I not feel it?”

He still could make out a general red reading on Keith, but he didn’t pick out the inner colors. He hurried to text back.

_Lance:_

_> Are you okay? What happened? Why’s the bond so weird and wonky feeling?_

He looked up at a sharp knock on his door. He was really hesitant to open it and find out those answers the hard way.

_Keith:_

_> Just be careful. They want something from us. I don’t know what it is._

Lance clicked his tongue, then jumped at another knock at the door. He sent a quick text that said he was sending Akira over. He then carefully hid the blade and the communicator under the yards of fabric in the wardrobe, then directed Akira to wait by the door.

“Alright, baby, as soon as we start walking, you follow along really quietly. Then go find Keith. See if he’s okay,” he whispered, scratching the kitten on the head.

Akira chirped, understanding the instructions. Lance opened the door, revealing the attendant with multiple dressed priests with hoods over their faces.

“My turn?” he asked, curiously.

The priests bowed, hands hidden in the cloak sleeves. Lance nodded, waving a hand.

“Alright. Lead the way.”

He followed along at the back, glancing over his shoulder to check that Akira was sticking close by in the shadows. As Lance was led down a darker hallway, Akira scurried off to find Keith in the opposite direction.

The priests surrounded him, caging him in and exuded a presence of seriousness. It made Lance really nervous, like he was getting initiated into some cult he didn’t want anything a part of.

“Uh, so these…trials? What are they about?” Lance asked, after some time.

No one even looked in his direction. They stayed silent and eerie. He hummed, uncomfortable.

“O…kay? Guess we’re not in a talking mood.”

They led him to a shadowy corner, then opened up the circle to show Lance a brown wooden trap door in the ground. One of the attendants opened it up, showing a wooden ladder down into a cavernous looking room.

“Uh…this…uh, are you sure-?” Lance was _very_ hesitant to go down there.

One of the priests placed a hand on his back and gave him a small push. Lance stumbled in surprise, looking behind him to see the priest had straightened so the light caught his face. Lance sucked in a startled hiss.

The priest’s face was mangled and burnt, eye sockets twisted beyond recognition with no way of seeing. The crystals layered on his neck had cracks in some.

“Ho-my gods,” Lance said, unnerved. “Okay. Uh, I’ll just go down then…”

His entire internal monologue was just a form of ‘ _yikes’._ He shivered and then slowly descended into the cavern through the trap door.

The door shut above him and he looked around to see the giant cavernous room he was scaling down into had juts of crystals glowing in all the rocks. The stalactites and stalagmites were uncut and unrefined, like he had been directed into a cave that no one had access to in a long time. The ladder was situated right in the middle, ending at a raised rocky platform, molded from the rocks that made up the cavern.

“This place is _so_ creepy,” Lance whispered to himself.

He jumped down onto the platform, waiting for someone or something to do something. He looked around at all the glowing crystals, confused.

“Uh…alright, well I’m here. What-?”

And suddenly he felt a distinct pull on his mind, a foreign and unwelcome presence that he wasn’t used to. He sucked in a breath, grabbing at his hair and he squeezed his eyes shut, a dull crackly ringing erupting in his ears.

The bond that connected him to Keith shifted in his chest, as if it was something intelligent and tried to fight off the foreign presence. The heat from the exchange burned his organs and he collapsed to his knees.

The pain was something indescribable. It was harsh and undefined, fighting presences and tendrils over his head that he just couldn’t understand.

He groaned as the bond was pulled taught like a string. The middle was grabbed and then twisted by the foreign presence.

_“Don’t let them break you”_

“They’re trying to break the bond…” Lance whispered to himself, in horror.

He scrambled to the ladder, trying desperately to climb out and get away from the violent crystal presences that invaded his mind. He made it up a few rungs before the presence seized on the tendrils that connected him to Keith, stretching it to the point of breaking.

Lance yelled out and he lost purchase as he fell back onto the platform, head cracking painfully against the stone. He focused all his might on keeping hold of the bond, despite the crackling energy buzzing in his ear.

“ _Stop! Stop it_!” he screamed, knowing it was in vain.

He grasped at his head, back arching off the ground as the pain reverberated against his bones and rattled him to his core.

“Let me GO!”

_Focus on Keith. Remember Keith. FOCUS!_

He concentrated on Keith’s overwhelming red presence, the feelings and emotions through the bond. He pictured his eyes, his hair, his laugh, his smile. He searched for every memory he had of Keith, all the way back to the Garrison. He kept hold of every scrap of Keith present in his mind.

The pain was nearing unbearable, a burning chasm of darkness clawing at his insides. He rolled onto his side, crying out as the pain seized on all his organs.

“Stop…gods, please stop it…!” he yelled out, pathetically.

And then suddenly he was released. As though the presence let him go, retreating back to the crystals.

Lance panted, eyes shooting open. He coughed at the lingering burning sensation at the back of his throat. He slowly sat up, arms supporting his trembling and sweaty body. He stared at the ground, unable to process the violent _assault_ on his mind and body.

_Keith…_

He checked into the bond, wearily. It was still there, albeit a bit damaged from the fight. It was dulled at the edges, instead of clear tendrils and auras interacting, it was clouds of colors. Harder to differentiate. It was as though they had reverted back to their earliest days of the bond.

“Fuck. That’s…shit…” he croaked out.

His hands clenched into hard fists. Anger caught in his chest like fire.

 _How_ dare _they fuck with the bond! How dare they_ violate _my soul like that!_

They had to have done something similar to Keith. That’s why he reached out. He must have been too weak to try and fight back and tried to warn Lance about the danger.

Lance quickly moved to his feet, wobbling from the rush of dizziness. He scrambled up the ladder, still trembling. He pounded on the door at the top. The door popped open and he was pulled out by the priests.

The priests locked arms through his elbows, not allowing Lance any chance of moving on his own. He struggled to gather his legs to work under him.

“Hey, let me-let me go!” he said, weakly trying to free himself.

They didn’t and Lance was still too dizzy and his limbs were still basically jelly. He was helpless as they carried him back to his room. They opened the door and threw him to the ground.

The door shut and Lance groaned in pain from the aches in his joints. He listened as the priests walked away.

“Lance!”

Lance startled as he whipped around, to see Keith hidden behind where the door opened inward. Keith got his attention by whisper-yelling. He looked pale and off-kilter, also shaky and weak. Lance gasped as he scrambled to his feet.

“Wha-how?”

Keith shook his head as he surged forward, wrapping his arms around Lance’s chest. Lance eagerly accepted the hug, grasping desperately on the stronger and clearer tendrils of Keith’s aura.

“Are you okay? Did it hurt you, too?” Keith asked, quickly stepping back and searching desperately over Lance’s face.

Lance grimaced, hands clenching in the robes at his chest. “It attacked the bond. I think…”

Keith cursed under his breath, aura stuttering in anger. “I felt that too. Damn it, we should have just left. We should have fought it more. Gods, I’m so sorry, Lance, this is all my fault…”

“Hey, no, no,” Lance said, sweeping Keith’s cheeks into his hands. “No, it’s not your fault. Are you okay? Are you still hurting?”

Keith shrugged, reaching up and rubbing at his head. “Yeah. It’s like I keep looking for you again, but everything’s all…clouded. Dull.”

“Why are they doing this? Why do they want to break the bond? What could they possibly gain?” Lance wondered aloud, confused.

“I don’t know. It’s obviously something to do with the crystals. I just don’t understand it,” Keith said, frowning. “And maybe the High Priestess is just a raving bitch.”

Lance hummed, nodding. “Okay, fair point.”

“What do we say we do?” Keith asked, leaning back against the wall.

“We need to get out of here. I can’t do that again. I barely got through it once. It almost broke me,” Lance said. “How’d you get out of your room?”

Keith pointed to the open window over Lance’s writing desk. “I scaled the wall.”

Lance blinked, looking between Keith and the window. “Huh? You’re kidding…”

Keith shook his head. “No, I’m not. As soon as I heard the attendants talking about you were next, I went out the window and used my dagger and bayard to climb over to your window.”

“Keith, that’s absolutely insane. I’m barely standing up right now, I can’t do that,” Lance said, rubbing at his forehead. “Plus, we need to find the rest of the team.”

“Alright, let’s wait for the morning. Say we got urgent messages or…something. That we need to talk as an entire team for. If they go through those trials, too, maybe they’d be more receptive of leaving,” Keith said, sighing.

Lance nodded, feeling better about that plan. “Okay. That might work. But, I say we be ready to fight our way out.”

“Yeah, good call.”

Lance stepped back into Keith’s orbit, gently curling his fingers into Keith’s hair and stroking it back. Keith slowly relaxed and leaned his head into Lance’s hand. A soft purr rumbled through Keith’s throat and Lance sighed in relief at the familiar sound.

“You can’t stay here,” Lance said, reluctantly. “You need to be in your room come morning.”

Keith looked as close to pouting as he could. “But…I don’t want to…”

Lance melted, leaning forward and kissing Keith’s forehead.

“I know. I don’t want you to go, either. Come on, we can stay up a little and talk about everything, but you’re going to have to go soon,” he said, pulling him over to sit on the mattress. “By the way, where’s Akira?”

“I tucked him into my bed as a tiger in case someone came to check. I told him to act like me and then he just started purring? Which totally didn’t give me an existential crisis,” Keith said, as they laid down.

Lance hid his giggles behind a hand, sitting on the bed with his back to the wall and Keith laying back against his chest. He wrapped tight arms around Keith’s middle, burying his face into Keith’s hair.

Keith turned his head and then they met into a soft kiss, Lance sighing into. The bond that surrounded their minds surged in excitement, flitting through color bursts just like the first time they kissed. It settled into the bond they had before, making all the worry drain out of Lance.

“Oh thank gods,” Lance whispered, as they separated.

“That was way easier than the first time,” Keith said, also sounding and emoting relief.

Lance hummed, kissing Keith’s bare shoulder that wasn’t cinched with the toga.

“Probably because the bond knows we’ve already established a lot of it. So, the damage was temporary. And we’re also just made for each other,” Lane said, chuckling.

“Soulmates, huh?” Keith said, reaching up a hand to curl his fingers through Lance’s hair.

“Definitely soulmates.”

They kissed again, relaxing into the soul bond that they truly believed could never be broken.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> boy oh boy if you thought the angst before was bad...you've got another thing coming


	33. Chapter 33

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things never go according to plan. This could be the very thing to break the bond forever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AHH GUYS I'M SO SO SORRY  
> I know I left you guys on such a cliffhanger, but i got so in my head about the ending coming up....idk i just needed a bit of time to get my groove back and i worked on some other projects  
> BUT IM BACK BABY

Lance startled awake that morning with a banging on his door. He rocketed to his feet, Akira meowed indignantly and scrambled to his feet. He shushed the kitty and then went to open the door.

The attendant from the day before stood there, with a wooden box in his arms.

“I’m here with a gift from Her Blessedness!” he announced, brightly.

Lance narrowed his eyes, then backed away. “Uh, I’m okay. Actually I was just about to go find her, because uh, I need to see the team. Something really urgent has come up with Voltron and we need to go.”

The attendant’s face twitched and he looked a little more panicked. “Oh, but…you must take this. And you must wear them to see her. It is very important.”

“Why? What is it?” Lance asked, curiously.

He opened the box and showed two necklaces of Halloween orange crystals. Lance’s stomach dropped out.

“No. I won’t wear those. I need to find my team, now. We need to leave,” Lance said, firmly.

The attendant then looked over his shoulder to the guards. Then turned back with a much more intense expression. The guards and him stepped further into the room and one of the guards sought out Akira and grabbed him. Lance yelled out, but then was backhanded across the cheek and he fell to the ground with a burst of pain.

“I’m very sorry. But I have orders,” the attendant said, passionately.

Lance couldn’t even say anything before the attendant grabbed him by the back of his neck and with way incredible strength picked him up like a mother cat would with her kitten. Lance gasped and struggled for a few seconds and then felt as both necklaces were clasped onto his neck.

And then his mind was warped from the inside out.

Keith had gone back to his room via the exact same route as he came an hour or so after they re-established their bond. He stumbled into his window, alerting Akira who jumped from the mattress in a defensive stance, but immediately sat obediently at the sight of Keith. He carefully told him to transform and go straight to Lance’s room and hide there.

He didn’t fight the bone-deep exhaustion anymore and fell right to sleep.

When he woke up, it was a process. He blinked, waiting for the usual feeling of Lance’s wavy ocean tendrils. He didn’t feel them.

Keith slowly sat up, searching and searching over the temple distance. He found no tether to Lance whatsoever. Not a single color or emotion, no thought or image.

Keith _panicked._

He scrambled to his feet, heart pounding and head reeling from the strange absence. It wasn’t as though he felt the _loss_ like he did during the separation. Like there was something to be found again. It was as though it never existed in the first place.

Keith hurried into the bathroom, staring at his reflection, still seeing all the colors he normally did. But nothing was vibrant as it was with the bond. Colors were muted, dull and clouded.

A panicked thought flitted through his brain…

If Lance is silent on his end, but it feels different than the bond snapping over the distance…is it because he’s…

He dug out his armor and bayard from the hiding place in the wardrobe, rushing to dress. He sprinted to the door, throwing it open.

Two guards that were stationed outside turned him and blocked his path with pointed spears.

“The rituals of the trials are not over. You are ordered to stay in your room until then.”

“I need to see the Priestess. And my team. Now. It’s urgent.”

The guards glanced to each other, then back at Keith, still blocking his path. The guard on Keith’s right spoke up.

“We must converse with the High Prieste-,” they said, before Keith activated his bayard.

“Let me through. I need to see my bonded partner, _now._ I need to see Lance,” he growled, getting into a defensive position. “Or I’ll fight you both to get through.”

The guards reacted by pointing their spears at him and he was just about to start wailing on them, when a nasally voice spoke up behind them.

“What in her Blessedness’ name is going on here?!”

The guards startled and one of them turned their head to look behind them at what Keith recognized to be the attendant from yesterday.

“This paladin was trying to threaten and leave his room,” they said, gruffly.

The attendant set his eyes on Keith from above and frowned. “Why are you trying to leave?”

“I need to see my bonded partner. Something’s wrong. It’s urgent. I need to see Lance,” he said, firmly.

The attendant tilted his head with an expression of confusion. “I’m sorry…who are you talking about?”

“Lance!” Keith said, louder. “The blue paladin! My partner!”

“I’m sorry, I don’t know this person,” the attendant said, eyes wide and without recognition. “I was under the impression the blue paladin is Princess Allura, is she not?”

“Wha-?” Keith staggered back, completely thrown. “No! The blue paladin is Lance McClain, a human from Earth! You met him yesterday!”

The attendant hummed, seemingly like he didn’t believe Keith at all. “I see…well, if you would just please adorn these, we can go speak with Her Blessedness and maybe she may give you better answers on where your…uh, other missing paladin is.”

He held out a box that had two necklaced crystals. Keith stared at the box, before huffing and stepping back more.

“No. _Hell_ no. I’m not messing with those crystals ever again,” he said, shaking his head. “I just need to get out of here. Let me through.”

The attendant finally broke his cool composure, looking desperate.

“Please, you may not speak with Her Blessedness without adorning the crystals. It’s imperative you do so,” he said, rattling the box once and entering the room.

Keith dropped into a defensive position again, sword coming up between them.

“You’re going to have to make me,” he growled, angrily.

The guards jumped into action, moving the attendant behind them and pointing their spears at him. Keith was just coming up with a plan to disarm them, when a voice called out from the hallway.

“Uh, Solarnep? What’s going on here?”

Keith’s heart jumped at the voice of the exact person he wanted to see. The attendant genuinely jumped in real life, then he whirled around. That was all Keith could really see, with the guards blocking the way.

“Lance? Lance, what’s going on?” Keith called out, desperately. He tried to move around the guards, but they had him blocked.

The attendant looked between him and what had to be Lance right behind him a few times, eyes wide with panic.

“My, uh, nothing to see here, Azul! You can just move on now!” the attendant (Keith guessed must be named Solarnep, but he had no clue as to why Lance knew that) said, looking behind him.

“You’re acting strange. Is something wrong? Who is in there?” Lance’s voice carried, with a weird tone.

Keith paused, confused. “Lance? Come on, Lance….it’s me! Help me out, we’re getting out of here!”

Solarnep turned and audibly hissed at him, catching Keith off guard. The guards were looking at each other in confusion as well.

“What the hell?” Keith muttered, finally deciding he didn’t care at all and just disarmed the guards with a fervor.

He knocked them back and Solarnep yelped, stumbling back out of the door and Keith finally saw Lance in full.

Lance blinked at him, bright eyes looking uncharacteristically calm…but still confused. He was still dressed in the white toga and for some reason had Keith’s belt strapped to his hips. And there were two beaded rows of crystals adorned on his neck.

Keith didn’t give it any mind as he rushed forward to grab at Lance’s arm. He pulled it with him as he started down the hallway towards the large atrium.

“Come on, we have to find the others! We need to get out of here, now!” Keith said, quickly.

Lance made a sputtering noise, then dug his heels into the ground, stopping Keith. The guards caught up and tried to wrestle them apart, but Keith held firm.

“Hey, get off me!”

“Wha-what are you talking about? What others? Why would we need to leave?” Lance asked, frowning.

Keith stared at him, completely bewildered. “What am _I_ talking about? What are _you_ talking about? We need to find the team! They’re crazy!”

Solarnep interceded and put an arm between Keith and Lance, forcing them to separate. Lance was put behind his arm, protectively.

“You shall not speak with Her Blessedness’ favorite pupil!” he barked, angrily at Keith.

“Her what now?” Keith asked, finally so distracted he gave up the fight and the guards hooked arms through his and kept him still. His bayard was taken from his limp hand.

“Lance, what is he talking about? What’s going on?”

Lance stared at him and Keith could see what was wrong as clear as day within those beautiful blue eyes that he loved to the very fabric of his soul. It destroyed his insides, like a jackhammer against what little hope he had in the universe.

Because he could see absolutely no warmth, fondness, love or even any _recognition_ in those eyes.

“I’m sorry, why are you calling me ‘Lance’? Just who are you?”

Keith’s breath was knocked out of him in shock. His legs actually felt weak under him and the guards caught him as almost collapsed.

“This better be a plan or a-or a joke or something…” Keith whispered, arms starting to tremble. “Come on, Lance…you can’t do this to me! Our bond! It’s not-,”

_It’s not there…IT’S NOT THERE_

Lance blinked and an eyebrow went up. “What ‘bond’? Solarnep, what is he talking about? And why is he a short-neck like me? What’s going on?”

“Don’t worry, Azul. This is a traitor to her Blessedness. We were just taking him to the dungeons,” Solarnep said, casually.

Lance frowned, a little perturbed. “But why-,”

“Please, just _listen_ to us, yes?” Solarnep said, turning to look at Lance.

Lance stared blankly at Solarnep for a few moments and then blinked out of his reverie. He nodded.

“Alright. Well, that’s that then,” he said, turning his back to Keith.

“No…NO!” Keith screamed, finally getting his strength back to fight against the guards. He broke free long enough to sprint the hallway and grab Lance by the shoulders to turn him back around.

Lance gasped and reeled back. “What are you-get off me!”

“Lance, don’t listen to them! They’ve-they’ve brainwashed you or something! Taken your memory!” Keith said, holding him firm. “They’ve made you think you’re with them, but you’re not! You’re one of us! Voltron!”

He was trying desperately with all his might to get Lance to just _see_ him, _know_ him, _remember._

“That’s preposterous…” Lance said, haughtily. “I’ve been here my entire life.”

Keith scoffed, just as the guards grabbed him again and hoisted him away.

“No, damn it! You’re a paladin of Voltron, like me!” he yelled, pulling against the hold the guards had on him. “Your name is Lance McClain! You’re a human! You’re from Earth!”

Lance’s face made a few movements, like he was trying to work out a puzzle. Solarnep came to his side and laid a careful finger on the crystals around Lance’s neck. His eyes went dull for a tick, then he shook his head.

“My name is Azul. Xeronrossthenfoundlen is my home. I was born and raised here,” he said, confidently. “I’m studying to be the next High Priest.”

Keith growled, fighting even harder. “No you’re not! You’re Lance McClain and you’re from Cuba! You had a house in Varadero with your family! You have four older siblings and a twin sister! You have a niece and a nephew named Nadia and Sylvio! And a sister-in-law!”

Lance’s eyebrow twitched, but then he shook his head again.

“I’m an orphan. I have no family,” he said, devoid of emotion.

Keith took in a shuddering breath, cut straight to the core. “What? No, no, you have the biggest family! You have a mother and you love her so, so much that it hurts like hell to be away from her while you’re out in space! I know because I _felt_ it! Please, _please_ you have to remember!”

Lance rolled his eyes. “I don’t know what you’re trying to do, tricking me like this. But it’s really starting to get on my nerves, short-neck.”

“I’m not tricking you! And my name is Keith! You know me! You know more about me than anyone ever has! Look, that’s _my_ belt you’re wearing! With my blade! We’re…”

He paused, eyes filling with tears against his will, which made Lance balk a little in surprise.

“We’re soulmates…”

Lance’s eyes widened and he stepped forward, about to say something. Solarnep turned a death glare on Keith, motioning to the guards.

“Knock him out. Clearly he’s too lively to keep awake. Take him to the dungeons.”

Lance turned to Solarnep in alarm, before opening his mouth to Keith again. But that was all Keith could see before a heavy hand hit the base of his neck and he was out cold.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i swear i won't leave things that long again, it might be more than just two days, but it won't be like that long again


	34. Chapter 34

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith tries desperately to appeal to this 'Azul' character parading around in Lance's body

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To make up for taking that long of a break, here's another chapter all here and ready for you!!  
> And we're reaching the big breakout climax and soon enough, it will be the end!!  
> If I were to take a guess, we've got about 4 or 5 more chapters left!  
> Not including the bonus smut that i'll be adding

Azul was a little distracted from his studies by thinking about the stranger in the white and red armor.

_Red…_

He winced as the color in his mind’s eye cause a twinge of pain from his forehead to the back of his mind. He rubbed at his temple, vision swimming as the words in front of him started to blur.

_Why is the thought of red making my head hurt?_

Azul sighed, tilting his head back and shaking it to try and clear the fuzziness from his ears. He thought of the stranger again, the one that called himself ‘Keith’ and insisted that Azul was called ‘Lance’. Clearly, the off-worlder was crazy. Or thought he was someone else.

“Azul? Her Blessedness wishes to see you,” Solarnep said, poking his head in his private study room.

“Ah, yes of course,” Azul said, shutting his book and standing. “Will you escort me?”

The attendant nodded, turning and Azul followed him out of the room. The hallways were as sparse with people as usual, but something prickled at Azul’s skin. Maybe it was that he saw another short-neck for the first time in his life. No one had ever looked like him before.

“Solarnep? Can I ask you something?” Azul said, falling into step next to the attendant and looking up.

He nodded. “Of course. You are meant to know everything that happens around here.”

Azul hummed. “Well…why do I have a short neck while no one else has one? And who really was that stranger? I didn’t know there were any off-worlders here right now. The Galra fleet left so many rotations ago. I hadn’t even been born yet. Was he a Galra?”

Solarnep looked a little uncomfortable talking about the stranger.

“Ah, see…” then, his face morphed into a pleased smile. “Yes, that was a Galra. Such evil creatures they are. They sow malice and hatred and discourse over the universe, disrupting the balance and corrupting souls wherever they go.”

Azul frowned, now really hating that he ever entertained the idea that they were somehow connected. The stranger was obviously crazy and evil, only wanting to make Azul doubt who he was and where he belonged.

Like that didn’t already plague his every thought his entire life.

It wasn’t easy to get where he was, fighting for the chance to study the most sacred of texts of his people. Even as he was so malformed and wrong. Azul prided himself in reaching for the best and actually working for his place.

Azul _earned_ his spot. He _deserved_ the chance to become High Priest.

As they reached the atrium with the High Priestess sitting upon her sacred throne, Azul and Solarnep took knees in front of her. They bowed to her as she deserved the respect.

“Mm, my favorite pet. Come here,” she said, voice purring over them.

Azul felt an instinctual pull to obey and he did so, standing and going to his knees next to her legs. He stared up at her, mesmerized. He was going to marry that incredible woman one day. It was his destiny.

She smiled at him and he smiled back, immediately.

“Your Blessedness. To what do I owe this great honor of being summoned?” he asked, submissive.

The High Priestess looked bothered. “I heard there was a commotion with a horrible traitorous off-worlder this morning. I wanted to make sure you were alright.”

Azul’s mood plummeted at the mention of the evil Galra. “I’m perfectly fine, your Blessedness. He tried to make me question you and everyone here. But, I’m proud to say that I didn’t listen. He said such nonsense like we were-,”

He cut himself off, at the memory of Keith’s face, desperate and tears shining in his eyes. He said the word ‘soulmates’. Azul didn’t like how that made him feel. Like someone gutted him from the inside out.

“I’m so sorry you had to go through that, pet. How about I let you sit in on what’s about to happen?” the High Priestess asked, reaching down and stroking her fingernails gently over his cheek.

Azul blinked, curiously. “What’s about to happen?”

Without looking away from his face, she snapped her fingers and Azul turned to see a team of guards come in from the far hallways.

“Bring in the Red prisoner.”

Azul hid the flinch that erupted at the forefront of his brain at the idea of the ‘Red prisoner’. What is it about r _ed?_ It was such a harsh, unforgiving color.

He never liked it very much.

The guards hurried off and Azul turned back to his future bride.

But for some reason his mind was distracted by ‘Red’. And also…a splash of ‘Blue’. Opposite colors were floating through his head, but every time he tried to focus on them, things were clouding and fuzzy. Like trying to remember a dream that fell away when you woke up.

In no time, marching guards sounded from the hallways, including the sounds of someone grunting and yelling out things. It was indistinguishable, but Azul turned and stood anyway.

This stranger tried to make him doubt himself. He wanted to look as composed as possible.

The guards brought in the off-worlder, handcuffed and with cuffs on the ankles too. His armor had been stripped of him, leaving him in a skin-tight black body suit.

Keith looked up at the High Priestess with a deadly glare already on his features, then his eyes found Azul.

The Galra’s face fell into what looked like utter _despair._

Azul nearly stepped back from the sheer force of the emotion on his face. Something seemed very wrong about it. If this Galra was only meant to make Azul doubt himself, it was seemingly with very believable acting.

Keith was thrown to the ground in front of them, but even though he had been fighting the entire way, he was docile in front of the throne. His head lowered to stare at the ground, hanging freely.

Something about that really bothered Azul.

“I have witnesses that say you attacked my favorite pupil here. Do you have anything to say for yourself?” the High Priestess asked, with a firm tone.

Keith’s head slowly raised, eyes only finding Azul’s. The colors of his eyes were strangely enticing to Azul, a dark indigo violet that reminded him of the night sky just after sunset.

“He’s not yours. He’s ours. And you know that,” Keith said, voice clear and echoing over the hall.

Azul frowned, looking up at the High Priestess and then back to the stranger.

“I’ve already told you. I don’t know who this ‘Lance’ is. You’ve got me mixed up with someone else,” Azul said, shaking his head.

“What did you do? How did you do this to him? In just one day? What did you do?” Keith asked, ignoring Azul’s statement. He turned the questions back to the High Priestess with teeth bared at her.

“How dare you speak to her Blessedness in such a tone!” Azul barked, angrily. “She commands the high heavens and even down to the farthest trenches of the Great Waterfall! You’re beneath her, filthy Galra!”

The High Priestess twinkled a lovely laugh, that Azul always adored. “Oh pet, it’s alright. Even as I love when you get all protective of me like this.”

Azul grinned up at his betrothed, while the stranger Keith made a choked horrified noise.

“Oh my gods, what the hell? You’re-what-?”

“Quiet, you. You shall face punishment for attacking my future husband,” the High Priestess said, making Azul preen at the acknowledgment.

Azul turned back to see Keith’s jaw had dropped and his face ashen as he stared at him. “F-future-what…is she serious?”

“Yes, it’s the greatest honor one can behold. Not that you would understand, as an outsider,” Azul said, proudly.

“No!” Keith said, loudly and looking desperate. “You’re supposed- _we’re_ supposed…come on Lance, you have to be in there somewhere! Just listen to me! You know me!”

“My name isn’t _Lance,”_ Azul growled, irritated. “And I’ve never seen you before in my life.”

Keith narrowed his eyes at him. “Then tell me something. Where did you get the belt that you’re wearing?”

Azul paused, looking down and running a hand over the belt he was wearing. He…didn’t know where he got it. And he didn’t really remember having it before he got up that morning. But he did remember seeing it among his wardrobe and thinking that it was _important._ And so he strapped it on.

“I…I don’t…” Azul said, befuddled.

“That’s no matter. It must have been a gift from me,” the High Priestess said, quickly.

Azul looked up. Yes, that must be it.

But…he would never have forgotten getting a gift from her. She was his future bride after all.

Azul fought to keep a straight face as pain strobed in his head and he gritted his teeth. He turned back to the stranger.

Keith was still staring right at him.

“It was a gift from me. That’s my blade you have. It’s one of the most important things I own. And I gave it to _you,_ Lance. And you promised to take care of it for me. You promised to give it back when we were over this planet,” Keith said, turning soft in his expression.

Azul hesitated, as something pushed against his mind. It was getting more and more painful.

“I don’t know what you’re….” Azul said, shaking his head. “I don’t remember…my name isn’t…”

“Seize him. Take him away. I’ve heard enough. Him and the rest of the traitors will be executed tomorrow. There’s no room in this castle for anything like this.”

The guards grabbed and heaved Keith off the ground. He looked angry and fought with more vigor this time.

Azul froze and his heart tapped double time in his chest.

_Executed? The rest of the traitors?_

“Wait, uh…your Blessedness…” Azul said, turning back to her. “Is that necessary?”

“Are you questioning my orders?” she asked, swinging her head over to look at him.

“No, no, of course not!” he said, waving his hands. “I just-uh, no never mind. Obviously that’s-,”

“Lance! Lance, listen to me! _Please,_ come on! Just hear me! You know something’s wrong, I can tell!” Keith yelled out, desperately. “You know something isn’t right!”

Azul winced as his head pounded. He shook his head.

Keith kept yelling things out as he was dragged away. For some reason it made Azul feel a gaping hole in his chest.

Maybe something _was_ wrong.

Keith was thrown back into the cell at the end of the dingy cinder blocked dungeons. He grunted as he slammed against the wall and slid down to sit.

“Keith? Keith, are you okay?”

“Yeah, Shiro. I’m okay. Except apparently we’re all going to be executed tomorrow. Not that I care since Lance doesn’t even remember any of us,” he said, choking up at the last part.

When he had woken in the cell earlier, he found that all the rest of his team never even made it to their rooms the night before. They all had been taken around winding routes and then thrown down into the dungeons. They immediately drugged them all so that even Allura or Shiro couldn’t fight their way out.

None of them had known why, even as they kept asking questions. They were only left there for the night and given food in the mornings. Allura had been quite angry and voiced that she regretted ever commanding Voltron to save their planet.

Their cells all lined next to each other down one hallway on one side, so they could yell out to each other. Keith hadn’t said anything to them other than it was him earlier. Even though all the guards stayed on the other side of the door leading into the dungeons so that no keys were anywhere close to the prisoners.

“What? Lance doesn’t remember-what are you talking about?” Hunk asked, worried.

Keith sucked in a shuddering breath, feeling the debilitating heartbreak finally set in. His eyes burned hot and tears ran down his face.

“He’s…” Keith started, voice wobbling. “Something…happened, he’s not…he’s not Lance anymore. He doesn’t…he doesn’t even know who we are. They must have brainwashed him or-or something…”

Several voices made shocked gasps or noises or started asking hard questions. It was Coran’s voice that Keith heard the loudest.

“Keith! What about the bond? What happened to it?” he asked, quickly.

Keith let out the smallest of pained whimpers in the back of his throat. He tried to keep from outwardly sobbing. He felt his body start to shake.

_“Gone…”_

Silence fell at that, shocked and horrified.

“Oh my gods,” Pidge said, voice trembling. “They broke it?”

Keith couldn’t help it anymore and he broke down into sobs. It echoed over the hall and his team only listened to him grieve the loss of his connection.

The pain was indescribable. It wasn’t like wrenching the bond out of his head. It was such a silent killer, as if the bond fell asleep and never woke up with him. Like the bond was nothing more than a dream in which Keith finally found someone that could understand everything he was feeling.

Colors were still there, but none of them could ever bring joy to Keith again.

He honestly wished he were colorblind again. Just so that he never had to think about blue ever again.

“Keith…” Shiro said, sounding so sad.

“I guess you were right, huh?” Keith said, sniffling. “That must feel good for you. It did hurt me. The bond…”

“No…no, I wasn’t right. Don’t say that. The bond didn’t hurt you. That Priestess did,” Shiro said, pleading for Keith to hear him. “And Lance…Lance is in danger. We need to get him back.”

“Yeah! Come on, we can find a way to convince him!” Hunk said, trying for optimism. “He’s my best friend, I know he wouldn’t let something like this keep him down. He’ll fight!”

Keith didn’t say anything as he just curled up against the wall. The vacant expression Lance had while looking at him…he didn’t want to see him that way ever again.

“Come on, Keith. We’ll figure this out!” Pidge said, sounding almost hopeful. “I’ll be damned before I let Lance just ditch us like that.”

“Keith…” Allura’s voice added in. “Lance is a paladin of Voltron. He’s strong and we know what he’s capable of. And before anything else, we all know that he’s so in love with you that he could probably break the hold on his mind with just that.”

Keith closed his eyes, feeling the gaping hole in his chest where his heart used to be.

“Lance will come back to you. I know it. We just have to find a way out of here and get him. He would never let things go like this,” Hunk said, more confidently.

“Keith…” Shiro said, more softly. “I promise you. I’ll get us out here. And we’ll find a way to bring you both back together.”

Keith sighed, at least thankful for his family.

Maybe it wasn’t hopeless.


	35. Chapter 35

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Azul looks for answers, while Keith almost gives up hope

Azul couldn’t sleep.

He kept tossing and turning, feeling like _something_ was missing. Like he forgot something really, _really_ important. He sighed, sitting up and fiddling with his crystals. It was a nervous habit of his.

It was too quiet in the temple sometimes.

Azul stood and headed over to where the confounding blade hid amongst his clothes. He dug it out and stared at the pummel, symbol lighting and glinting in the moonlight.

Something about it tugged at his mind, but then just as always it clouded over and fell away.

He finally couldn’t take it anymore. He needed to find out just what that stranger Keith was talking about. He couldn’t help but feel like he might be telling the truth. That strange off-worlder. The one in the _red-_

Azul hissed in pain at the thought of the color.

It only fueled his need for answers more. Why did the color red make him feel both indifferent and also like he would never be able to breathe right ever again?

Something was really, r _eally_ wrong.

He shook his head, then headed over to the door. He hesitated, as he remembered the guards’ patrols. He stepped back, then looked around the floor for the loose tile.

Azul found the notch in the ground and heaved up the tile, carefully scooting it over. He dropped into the tunnel beneath him and in his memory mapped out where the tunnel led. He had lived in the temple most of his life, he knew every corner of it like the back of his hand.

And yet, sometimes it felt like a first adventure all over again.

He set off towards where he knew was the passage leading into the dungeons. It took just a few minutes to get there, Azul humming a soft song under his breath.

It was subconscious, he thought. He didn’t really remember where he heard the song before.

The tunnels branched out in forks every so often, but Azul knew the way.

It vindicated him somewhat. Of course he knew the way, he was a star pupil for the High Priestess. He knew the temple backwards and forwards.

He knew the way.

And then he found the glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel. It was the tile in the floor of the dungeons. So he brought up his hands to the ceiling and pushed it carefully out of place. He braced himself on the edges of the hole and hoisted himself up and into the dingy dungeon.

The dungeons were always his least favorite part of the temple, for obvious reasons. It was built with different materials than the rest of the temple and it made his skin crawl for some reason. The tunnel led to the end of the hallway, right in front of a cell.

Azul turned to see the cell actually occupied by a gaping short-neck in green under armor, just like Keith.

“Hello?” Azul said, awkwardly.

The stranger stumbled forward to grip at the cell bars with cuffed hands.

“Lance?” they asked, shocked.

Azul frowned. “Why is everyone calling me that? That’s not my name.”

“Wait, Lance?”

“Is that Lance’s voice?”

“What are you doing here?”

Several voices rang out from down the hallway and Azul hurried to look at all the occupants. These must be the team members of ‘Voltron’. Must be some new Galra enforcement team. Strangely, they all had armor that corresponded to a color, except two short-necks with pointed ears and marks on their faces.

Azul ignored all their advances for conversation, instead finding the last occupant at the middle of the hallway. He was slumped against the wall, his back turned to Azul. He didn’t say a word.

That really bothered him.

“Who are you?” Azul asked carefully approaching the cell door.

Keith slowly turned his head, showing puffy and red-rimmed eyes. He looked horrible, like he was in the midst of grieving a loved one. He’d been crying.

Azul didn’t like that at all.

“I’m Keith. I told you,” he said, voice barely getting above a whisper.

“Lance, come on, you have to listen to us!” a husky deep voice rang out. “You’re my best friend and-,”

“Shush. Let them talk,” another deeper and steadier voice cut him off.

Azul wasn’t sure why, but he knelt in front of the bars of Keith’s cell and his hand came up to grasp at them.

“No…there’s something more. Who _are_ you?” Azul asked again, more intently.

“Go away. I don’t want to see you.”

“Why? You were trying so hard to get me to listen to you before. What’s different now?” Azul asked, confused.

“You look like him and your voice sounds like him. But the words that come out aren’t him. It makes me angry,” Keith said, almost like he was growling.

“If you tell me who you are, then maybe I can help. I serve her Blessedness…but I don’t even know what you did wrong. You didn’t actually attack me. And no one’s attacked the city. She won’t tell me what you did. I have to know,” Azul said, verging on desperate.

“Who _are you?”_

The off-worlder sighed and shook his head.

“Even like this you’re so stubborn,” he muttered, almost sounding sad.

Keith shuffled around to cross his legs and set his cuffed hands in his lap. He looked down to stare at them.

“I’m Keith Kogane. I’m the red paladin of Voltron. I’m half-Galra. I fight the Galra Empire. I’m an orphan, but I think my mother is still out there somewhere. I fight with a sword and my blade transforms, the one that you have in your hand right now.”

Azul startled, looking down to see the very blade clutched in his fist. He had forgotten he held it.

“I like fast speeders and ships. I like cats and sometimes I can purr. I don’t know where it comes from. And I have a- _had_ a boyfriend named Lance. We had a bond that connected our minds. I loved him. I _still_ love him.”

His voice went softer and softer to the end, sounding resigned to everything.

Azul’s head twinged at the sound of him saying he loved this ‘Lance’.

“I’m not ‘Lance’. That’s not my name,” Azul said again, purposeful. “You have me mixed up with someone else.”

Keith sighed a little. “Okay.”

“Wha-‘ _okay’?!”_ a voice rang out in the silence. Azul recognized this to be the green paladin’s. “Um, screw that! It’s not okay! You’re Lance! _You_ are Lance McClain! They brainwashed you!”

Azul turned towards the voice, then found the others joined in too.

“Come on, Lance! Come on, it’s me! We’re best friends! I’m Hunk!”

“Lance, listen to us! You’ve got to snap out of it!”

“You’re a paladin of Voltron! We need you! The universe is in danger!”

Keith squeezed his eyes shut, then looked up with a fire in his eyes.

“Shut up!” he yelled, silencing the others. His eyes stayed glued to Azul’s.

“Who are _you?”_

Azul’s eyebrows furrowed at the question. “I’m Azul. I’m studying to be High Priest.”

“Why?” Keith asked, stronger this time.

“Because that’s my destiny,” Azul said, firm.

“How do you know that?”

Azul paused, unsure how to answer that. How do you explain something like your destiny?

Keith seemed to latch on, while still changing topics. “What do you like to do? What are your hobbies?”

Azul relaxed his hold on the bars and leaned back, shaking his head.

“Who are your friends?” Keith asked, persistently. “Who raised you? Where did you come from? Why do you look so different than the rest of them? What makes you… _you?”_

Azul winced as the questions he tried to answer started to pick at his brain painfully. He shook his head harder, trying to clear the intense fog over his mind.

“What about your _name?_ Where did your name come from?” Keith asked, looking very serious.

That made Azul pause, staring at Keith as indigo eyes bore into his skull.

“My-what? What are you talking about?”

Azul’s head started hurting more at the thought. Where did his name come from? Why’d he never ask such a thing?

“Your name. It’s Spanish. It’s Spanish for ‘blue’,” Keith said, moving to his knees to shuffle closer to the bars.

Azul startled and moved back. “What’s-what are you-,”

“Spanish, Lance. It’s _Spanish._ _Español.”_

“I don’t know what that means,” Azul said, but was a lot less confident than he had been in the tunnels.

Something about the language really tugged at his mind, so much more than before. The pounding headache got a lot worse.

“You do, Lance. Your full name is Leandro Olivero Sanchez-McClain. Your first language is Spanish. That’s your native tongue. You’re from Cuba. Your favorite food is garlic knots from a shack on the Varadero beach. You like to sing and play guitar, even though you say that your guitar playing sucks. You’re bright and funny and smart and you can fight like _nobody’s_ business. You can just _remember,_ Lance,” Keith said, desperately.

Azul hissed at the sharp pain in his head. It grew so hot and hard that it brought ringing to his ears.

“Why does it _hurt_ to talk to you?” Azul asked, whimpering. “You bring me so much _pain._ Why?”

Keith grasped at the bars and looked worried. “Are you okay? What hurts?”

“My _head._ Why-why does it hurt when I think of you or the color-,”

He cut himself off. Keith’s eyes widened as he opened his mouth.

“That’s it. _That’s it!_ I know the color you’re thinking of. That’s how I’ll prove that it’s real, Lance.”

Azul looked up and narrowed his eyes at Keith, suspiciously. It was a trick.

“You’re thinking of the color red,” Keith whispered, looking so incredibly hopeful about something.

Azul’s head burst into another much more intense painful burn. He grunted, grabbing at his hair. A _crack_ sounded through the air.

“What…what _are_ you?” Azul asked, teeth clenched. “What is _red?”_

Keith reached through the bars to grab at Azul’s hand and the contact made him jump. He caught his eyes again and Keith squeezed his hand. Those intense eyes burned his, like he was seeing right through to Azul’s soul.

“ _I’m_ red. We see each other’s colors. I’m your soulmate,” Keith whispered.

“Azul is _blue.”_

And then something deep in Azul’s chest cavity _snapped._ Pain erupted against his neck and in his head and he covered his mouth as he wanted desperately to s _cream._ At the burning sensation on his neck, he instinctually clawed and then broke the crystal necklaces clasped around his neck. They clattered to the ground and unwound.

Azu-no. No that’s not it.

His name wasn’t Azul. Keith was no stranger.

His name was Lance McClain.

Lance felt as though he burst through the surface of the ocean and he gasped as the hold on his mind forced itself away. The pain receded and he finally, finally came back into himself.

Memories, his _real_ memories, floated back to the surface and Lance remembered what happened.

It was the crystals. They kept the bond in a cage around his head. It broke his consciousness and forced him to forget who he was.

“Lance? _Lance?!”_

His head shot up and he then saw the best thing ever.

He saw _colors again._

Keith was grasping at him with both his red tendrils and his arms through the bars. His eyes were so wide and shining with tears. Lance shot to accommodate and melded himself close to the bars and he grabbed Keith’s face desperately.

“Keith… _Keith…_ oh my gods, I’m so sorry, I don’t-they forced-,” he tried to explain, but Keith immediately shook his head.

“Thank gods, thank quiznacking gods,” Keith said, clutching tightly to Lance’s hand on his face. “Oh you’re back. I was so worried I lost you…”

“Lance? Lance, is that you? Are you back with us?” Shiro’s voice rang out, pleading.

“Shiro… _Shiro,_ oh my gods…” Lance said, relieved. “Yeah, yeah it’s me again, holy shit…”

“Woah, actually…that was way easier than I thought…honestly thought we were going to have to keep yelling at you all night,” Hunk’s voice joined in, sounding choked up.

“Gods damn soul bond saves us yet again!” Pidge yelled out, cackling from relief. “Ha! Amateurs! Don’t underestimate the _power_ of soulmates! No matter how gross they are!”

Lance grinned at that, laughing under his breath in relief. The pain still throbbed around his neck and he felt there was probably some bruising or burns around there but it didn’t matter.

“My boy, I’m so glad you’re back with us,” Coran said, much softer and gruffer than the rest.

“Oh, Coran, oh gods-,” Lance said, trying to keep up.

Keith pulled at him to look back at him. Lance responded immediately and their colors joined together, dancing and swirling right back to where they were meant to be. It was a desperate thing, fueled by so many attempts and close calls on having their bond broken.

Blue met red in the middle and they rested their foreheads together through the gap in the bars.

“We need to get out of here. Now,” Lance announced, firmly.

“Uh, can we fight a bitch first?” Pidge asked, angrily.

“Hm, yeah I second that motion,” Keith said, backing up to look into Lance’s eyes. The red in his colors shifted into a deeper, fiery inferno.

“She tried to take you away from me. I won’t let that stand.”

Lance’s mouth twitched into a wry smile. “Hold your horses, samurai. I still need to do a prison break.”

He stood up and inspected the cell. The bars were a reinforced metal he didn’t recognize and he pulled at them, just to see.

“Dude, Shiro…why haven’t you been able to just Galra hand out of this?” he asked, confused.

“There’s an electromagnetic pulser in the handcuffs. My arm is basically useless right now,” Shiro said, frustrated.

“Ah, great okay…well-,”

Then Lance jumped out of his skin when a door slammed open at the other end of the hallway. He whirled around and was openly right there when five guards came running in.

“Oh, shit that’s not good…” he whispered, stepping back a little.

“What are you doing here?!” the first guard said, gaping at him.

“Uh…” Lance said, heart thumping in his chest. “I’m…just checking on the prisoners. Her Blessedness gave me a direct order to…question them.”

Another guard looked like he was suspicious. “And why didn’t we see you come in?”

“And where are your crystals?” another asked, as all of them looked at the broken remains of the crystals and the burn marks on his neck.

“Uh…”

“He’s broken out of control. Get him!” the first guard ordered, as all the rest surrounded him.

Lance used Keith’s hand-to-hand training well as the paladins all started yelling as Lance was getting ganged up on. One wrapped their arms around Lance’s middle and Lance used the leverage to kick out, using his heel to aim right for the middle of the side of their giant necks.

One got hit right on the clasp of a beaded crystal necklace and he _shrieked_ out loud. His back bent in really unnaturally and then his face burst into spontaneous burns. Lance actually crumpled back into the guard’s arms behind him in alarm.

It was silent after that, all of them startled into forgetting anything that was important.

“What the actual _shit_ was that?!” Pidge’s voice asked, rattled.

And then cuffs were clicked onto Lance’s wrists behind him.

“You’re all going to see her Blessedness.”

As Lance was held by his elbows, the others went and unlocked all the cell doors and grabbed the team. Keith and Lance held gazes as they both struggled against the hold on them. Then Lance caught eye contact with all the rest.

The guard was left writhing on the ground as the paladins were led as a group up the stairs.

Pained cries followed them out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the reason i took so long of a break was because I WAS going to stretch the amnesia plot out a lot more, but as I was reading it, I was like...no actually I don't want to. they've been through enough already  
> SO we get the magical power of soulmates that save them very early on  
> because im sappy


	36. Chapter 36

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith and Lance are faced with their worst nightmares
> 
> TW// animal...cruelty? i guess? and blood/violence

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so...i wasn't really meaning for this...but this genuinely might reach 100k words and that's buck wild y'all  
> BUT WE ARE GETTING DONE SOON  
> probably. im writing up the ending now and the extra ~sexy~ chapters and its almost all finished!!

Keith was shoved harshly to his knees in front of the High Priestess in a long robe, obviously just gotten out of bed. To his left was Lance, glaring daggers at her and hands behind him in cuffs. The rest had their hands cuffed in front of them.

The High Priestess narrowed her eyes at Lance. “I’m honestly impressed. You found a way to break free of my control within under a sun’s trip. That’s unheard of.”

Lance smirked up at her. “Well looks like your plan failed. Whatever it was. Because it kind of seemed like it sucked to begin with. Why try to control just me? I’m probably the least important of the paladins.”

Within that split-second Keith wanted to burst in to defend Lance, but at the change of emotions, Lance sent him a quieting tendril. His emotions showcased he was just trying to see what her end goal was.

The High Priestess hummed. “That may be so. However, it’s one of the only conditions that it takes for my crystals to enact correctly. A soul’s resonance must be strong enough to form a bond in order for it to work.”

“So that’s why you tried with me too?” Keith said, an eyebrow raised. “And then you just gave up when I saw what happened to Lance?”

“No, you see…once you had prior knowledge of what my crystals could really do, then you would have broken free,” she said, sounding irritated. “And I didn’t bother with those two Alteans. One needs a f _ormed_ bond between them for it to work. They both lost theirs years ago with the fall of Altea.”

“Well that’s-,” Lance started, but then all of the paladins froze as the information actually digested.

Keith leaned forward around Shiro to stare as Allura’s head bowed with her hair obscuring her from view. Coran looked over at her with large, sad eyes filling with overwhelming pain.

“A-allura?” Hunk asked, quietly. “What is she talking about? I thought only Coran…”

“Princess?” Shiro asked, low and comforting.

Allura’s shoulders started to tremble a little and Keith’s heart seized in his chest.

“Alfor…?” Keith asked her, pointedly.

She flinched with her full body and she raised her head to meet his eyes. She had tears streaming down her face in rivers. Lance’s breath hitched next to him.

“Yes. I had a soul bond with my father,” she said, voice thick with emotion.

“Woah…” Pidge whispered, gaping at her.

“How interesting she never told you…” the High Priestess said, chuckling. “Although I can understand why. Soul bonds with family are such complex affairs.”

“Shut the hell up, bitch!” Keith growled at her, angrily.

Her eyes burned at him and snapped her fingers at someone behind him. Suddenly his hair was yanked from behind and he was pulled up to his feet and thrown bodily to the ground about ten feet away in the middle of the hall.

The rest of the team started yelling things, but all of them were forced to turn around to look at Keith rather than the Priestess and had spears shoved under their chins. Keith was left alone with his hands cuffed and he stood up, defiantly.

“You’re going to be the test for my new pet. Because I never liked you. Your Galra eyes irritate me,” the High Priestess said, huffing.

“What are you doing? Why do any of this?” Pidge asked, impatiently.

The High Priestess sighed. “Well see…I’m losing control of my people. And I believed that with the help of the paladins of Voltron, I might be able to revitalize my crystals. But now you know what really happens, so you need to be eliminated.”

Keith froze and then stared at the woman in horror. “Wait…so you’re saying that every single person that have crystals on their necks…you’re controlling _all_ of them?”

He remembered down in the city that nearly all of the people that he saw had on at least two whole rows of crystals around their necks.

“Jesus Christ, you’re _insane_!” Lance yelled out, emotions rolling with anger.

“Don’t you dare speak that way to me!” she yelled, voice shrill and grating on Keith’s more sensitive ears.

“Well what now? Are you just going to kill us all?” Shiro asked, fighting against the hold on his hair from the guard behind him.

“Not yet. I’m starting with your tainted half-Galra. _Guards!_ ” she yelled out the last part as a full troop of guards came marching out of the ball halls and surrounded Keith in the middle of the hall. It was as though he were trapped in a large cage with ten feet of space on all sides made of flesh and bone.

He looked to see that the team was pulled up on the dais with the Priestess in the middle, so that they were all looking down on him. Lance’s emotions were a storm of fear and desperation, as he stared at Keith who was all alone.

Keith frowned, squaring his shoulders, ready to fight all the guards off if need be.

“So what?” he yelled out, stubborn. “I can take all of them even with my hands tied!”

The High Priestess cackled. “Oh no, little Galra. You won’t be fighting them.”

She snapped her fingers, then suddenly the cuffs around his wrists sparked and fell to the ground. Keith looked down at them, then rubbed at his sore wrists, confused. She snapped her fingers again and then his bayard was thrown to the ground in front of him.

He picked it up and transformed it immediately. He felt so much better with the familiar weight in his hands, the thrumming of quintessence against his glove.

“You must be really stupid!” Keith said, laughing. “You just signed your death certificate with this!”

Lance grinned visibly at the jab, as the High Priestess leaned forward. She looked positively thrilled by what was going to come.

“Bring in my new pet!” she yelled out, smugly.

Keith got down into a defensive position, feeling the adrenaline before a fight. Whoever they brought in was going to be no match for Keith with a fully functional bond with Lance and his bayard in his hand.

He was unstoppable.

As he was getting ready to take down whoever it was that was coming to fight, a loud _roar_ froze his feet to the ground in utter _horror._

The guards that cut Keith off from the west side of the temple stepped back and opened up a hole, to which Keith stared as his absolute worst nightmare strolled in.

Akira in his full tiger form stalked forward with chains connecting him to four guards pulling him back from leaping forward and attacking Keith fully. He had a collar of crystals around his neck and his eyes burned steadily with a radioactive Halloween orange.

He had his long meat-tearing teeth bared at him, growling menacingly. There was no recognition in his eyes at all.

“ _No…nononononono,”_ Keith muttered, hand dropping his sword and he stepped back as far as he could away from his _baby._

 _“NO!”_ he could hear the repeat of his mantra in Lance’s scream as it cut through his panic and he felt all of the rolling dark navy emotions from his bond mate pull at his heart.

The High Priestess just laughed, maniacally. “See…the funny thing about soul bonds is that even those with low level telepathic abilities can be added to a pre-existing bond if both in the pair agree to the change. It seems as though your pet was added to your bond without any of you knowing.”

Lance’s wails of desperation were enough to bring burning tears to Keith’s eyes. The team yelled out his name or Akira’s name in vain.

Keith’s hand shook at his side. There was no way he could do it. He couldn’t fight Akira. He couldn’t even think to raise a sword against him. The very idea felt like the largest betrayal he could ever do.

He turned and tried to break through the guards’ cage around them, but he was easily thrown back. There was just too many of them.

Akira’s growls got louder and Keith flinched, turning back around to look at his tiger pulling at the chains keeping him back.

“Keith!” Lance screamed, loudly. “You have to fight! _Please!”_

It was impossible. There was no way. He couldn’t do it.

He immediately brought up his walls against Lance. Imagined iron chains and locks surrounding his emotions.

Lance shouldn’t feel what he was feeling.

“Release the beast.”

Akira was unchained and Keith only had time to watch as his tiger pounced forward, straight at Keith’s chest. He ducked and rolled away, quickly, but was off balance as he stood. He was too distracted by the familiar cat and his memories with him.

Akira was _fast,_ zipping around the cage with a wild instinct and Keith could only dodge so much before claws dug straight into his chest and he was slammed to the ground. His head hit the ground _hard_ and stars burst through his vision.

Lance was shrieking and screaming out, sobs loud and earth-shattering.

Akira’s giant fangs snarled over Keith’s face. But nothing in him could be accessed to bring up his bayard against the animal. The claws breached through his under suit and dug right into skin.

Keith hissed in a breath, adrenaline taking over and he managed the strength to shove the tiger off of him and he rolled away, barely dodging another attack.

But then his arm was outstretched to keep his balance and his back was turned from Akira just a beat too long.

Large predatory teeth sank straight into Keith’s right bicep and tried to tug him around like a rag doll.

Keith couldn’t help the screams of pain as the piercing fangs tore through his skin and blood ran down his arm.

The team yelled out more, Lance’s sobs shrill and undefinable of words. It was ironic, like he was devolving into an emotional turmoil of an animal too.

“Akira…” Keith whimpered, desperately. “Please, come on…I know you’re in there…”

The tiger growled around his arm, but then a flash that the orange receded a little. Keith grasped hard on that hope.

“Baby…listen to me, me and Lance are here for you, we love you…you’ve got to listen to me!” he said, rasping as the pain seared through his arm and in his chest.

Akira’s growling stuttered and the hold on his arm relaxed a little. The sounds turned a little pained and Keith managed to grab onto the tiger’s snout and force the teeth up out of his arm. He fell back with another cry of pain as the fangs were ripped out of his skin.

Akira yowled as he chomped at air. Keith held his arm at the elbow as he felt tears stream down his face in grief and pain and he staggered to his feet and back away from where the tiger was shaking his head.

“Come on, just hear me! You know me!” Keith said, louder at the cat. He was starting to get déjà vu from the pleading. “Uh, red! I’m red!”

Akira didn’t respond, because he’s a c _at not Lance, you idiot._

Which meant he liked cat things. Keith got a sudden, completely even more idiotic plan in his head, so he knelt down to the ground facing Akira, throwing his bayard away.

“Wha-? What are you doing?!” Pidge yelled, trying to understand.

“Fight! You have to fight!” Hunk’s voice boomed.

 _“Keith!”_ Lance shrieked, voice cracking from the strain.

Keith ignored them, as he panted from the pain and tried to focus in on his chest and throat. He accessed a more primal part of himself, searching for comfort and safety.

And miraculously it worked, because he could feel the rumble in his throat and chest, reverberating across his body. He willed it to be as loud as it could go, body actually trembling with the force of it.

Akira froze at the sound, which made all the yelling from the team stop immediately. Akira stared straight into his eyes, staggering on his four legs.

Keith tried to keep the whimpers at bay, as the purr in his throat thundered. His heavy breathing would get stuttered in his lungs as he was focused so hard on the purr.

Akira’s spine curled and he yowled in agony as the crystals around his neck sparked and cracked through. Keith immediately took the distraction and summoned his bayard into his left hand. He transformed it and quick as a flash raced forward.

He hooked the sword at the clasp and broke the chain around Akira’s neck.

Akira slumped down as the crystals clattered to the ground around him.

The room was thrown into chaos.

Guards around Keith rushed forward, the team’s guards got distracted so they all managed to gain the upper hand and get loose enough to stand on their own. The High Priestess was screaming something as she stood from her throne.

But none of it mattered because him and Shiro locked eyes.

“Shiro! Her crystals!” Keith yelled, as loud as he could.

And he reeled his arm back and threw his bayard over the heads of the guards with all his remaining strength. Shiro rocketed forward to catch it out of the air with his human hand, still cuffed.

Keith felt almost like the world fell into slow motion as guards converged on him and Akira, while Shiro transformed his bayard into a broadsword and sprinted at the High Priestess. No one could match his speed as he grabbed onto the back of her robe.

He hooked the sword through the bottom of the layers of crystals running up her neck and then sliced through all of them in one clean upward sweep.

Time really stood still for a split second as the High Priestess’ eyes went solid orange and the crystals burned her entire body from the inside out. She collapsed to the ground like she had been a marionette that got her strings cut. She never made any sound.

All the guards around him fell back, covering their ears for some reason and their crystals went bright and then lost all color. They sat clear as diamonds on their necks and they shook their heads, looking around them with confused looks.

Keith panted from the exhaustion and pain, barely able to catch eyes with large, desperate overflowing blue before his vision went dark.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hehehe....very sorry but we're almost done with the angst and then a huge fluffy bomb is coming to make up for everything


	37. Chapter 37

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance deals with the aftermath of the forced fight between his reckless kittens

“ _Keith!”_

Lance scrambled down the dais and forced himself through the milling crowd of befuddled guards and saw Keith laying sprawled across the ground, blood running down his suit and staining the marble floors.

“Oh gods, Keith, baby…please be okay,” he croaked out, voice shot from all the yelling he’d been doing the past few minutes.

Keith didn’t respond and Lance whined, hands straining hard against the cuffs around his back, desperate to touch his bonded mate.

“Get these off me!” he yelled, turning around to the guards. “He needs help!”

The guards finally blinked out of their reverie and one of them staggered forward to break the chain with his spear. Lance didn’t even think as he called for Blue in his mind to pick them up, urgently.

“Lance! Lance, what are you-,” Shiro came through, his cuffs already broken too.

“He-he needs a healing pod!” Lance said, choking through his panicked sobs. “His-his _arm…”_

“Who are you people?” one of the guards asked, confused. “What’s going on?”

“Not now!” Lance yelled back, angrily.

The guard jumped back in surprise.

“Do any of you remember anything?” Hunk asked, confused and nervous.

“No…no nothing. The last thing I remember was that I was with my bond partner and going to the temple for the annual festival. The new High Priestess was getting anointed,” another guard said, scratching at her head.

“Uh, yeah…I guess I’ll volunteer to stay here to explain some more of this,” Pidge said, as all the rest of the team were uncuffed and coming together around Keith. “You guys get Keith and Akira back to the castle.”

Shiro patted her on the head gently and then crouched next to Lance. “Do you want to take Keith or Akira?”

“Keith,” Lance answered, immediately.

Shiro nodded, going over to gather up the slumped tiger in his arms. Lance gently hooked his hands under Keith’s knees and wrapped his left uninjured arm around Lance’s neck. He picked him up off the ground, hurrying past all the staring Xerons and to the large doors that Coran opened up for them.

Blue was hovering in the sky over the temple, with Red farther back. Both their presences enveloped Lance’s mind and he had to choke back sobs again.

Blue swooped down to open up her mouth to the top of the steep steps leading up the temple face and Lance staggered up the ramp to lay Keith down behind the pilot’s chair. Red ended up accepting Shiro in to pilot her back to the castle, albeit grumbling and reluctantly. Coran went with Lance to look over Keith as they flew.

“We must hurry. If he loses any more blood, he may end up losing the arm,” Coran said, urgently.

Lance’s stomach dropped out and he rocketed away from the temple, Blue purring comfort over his mind.

The castle sat just outside the outlying forest around the city, so it was just a few seconds before they docked and scrambled to carry the injured teammates to the healing pods. They staggered into the med bay, Coran hurriedly brought up two pods and then oriented one to lay horizontally.

Shiro laid down Akira in the horizontal pod and Lance propped up Keith in the standup pod. Coran shut them both and activated them to see their injuries.

Coran swiped through a few scans on Keith’s first, then sighed with relief.

“He’s going to be okay. It should heal in just about over a cycle and a half. His arm should be okay, too,” he said, smiling with a hint of exhaustion to Lance.

Lance felt overwhelming waves of relief as he staggered back and massaged his chest over where his heart had been beating hard.

“Oh thank quiznack,” he croaked out, wiping under his eyes of the wetness.

“What about Akira?” Shiro asked, concerned.

Lance startled at the reminder, then hurried to look at his baby in the horizontal pod, where he lay horrendously looking like a dead cat.

“How do you know this will help him?” Lance asked, worried. “He’s an animal.”

Coran nodded, swiping through the scans on that pod too. “He has suffered only moderate burns on his neck and Keith shallowly sliced him. And the castle takes biometrics of everyone that has ever come aboard, in case there is need for the healing pods. So as soon as the little kitten was brought on, his inner physiology was scanned through.”

“Oh neat,” Lance said, momentarily distracted. “But uh, he is going to be okay, right?”

“Yes he should be just fine. He’s only needing a short stint in the pod. Just about six vargas or so,” Coran said, kindly.

Lance truly felt relieved and he actually had to hold himself up with the side of the pod, so that he wouldn’t immediately collapse by how exhausted he felt.

Shiro hurried to wrap an arm around his waist to hold him steady.

“Alright, you’ve been through enough now. Why don’t you go change out of the clothes and rest for a bit? Oh and get some treatment on those burns on your neck,” he said, softly.

He didn’t bother to mention he still felt the sharp phantom pains from Keith’s injury on his arm, too. There would be no reason because they couldn’t do anything about it.

Lance nodded, grateful for the steadfast older brother figure that Shiro was again. He’d missed trusting and relying on the older paladin while they were all fighting. Coran helped him over to sit at the console and gently moved his toga’s cinched shoulder wrap.

He examined the burns around his neck and upper chest, then rifled through the cabinets for treatments.

“How are you feeling?” Shiro asked, crouching down to look him in the eyes.

Lance sighed. “Tired. Sore. Aching. And I’m really worried about Keith and Akira.”

Shiro nodded. “Take it easy for a bit. The rest of us can handle the drama on the ground. You should stay and look after those reckless cats here.”

Lance chuckled weakly. “Thank you, Shiro. Honestly…you completely saved us all back there. It was pretty cool.”

Shiro huffed a deep laugh. “It was really nothing. I think Keith did way more. Since when could he _purr_ like that? That was crazy.”

“Oh yeah…we found that one out a while ago. He was pretty self-conscious about it,” Lance said, as Coran came back and directed Lance to raise his chin.

Shiro stood and stepped back to watch over them.

“This is a burn relief, but I’m sorry to say these will probably scar,” Coran said, screwing a bottle’s cap off and carefully applying a bright blue cream to Lance’s neck and collarbones.

It immediately soothed the dry hot skin and Lance sighed in relief.

“That kind of sucks. I mean…what a lame scar. From getting brainwashed of all things?” Lance said, pouting a little.

Shiro frowned. “Lance, it was a really tough time for all of us to see you like that. Or…uh, see that _version_ of you.”

Lance wiped the pout and turned serious. “Sorry. I don’t really remember a lot of it. It’s kind of a blur. That… _Azul_ …character they made me into was sort of a drag. Like he…or I guess uh, _I?_ I don’t know because he wasn’t _me_ obviously, but he was still…kind of like me. Like I was still there under it all…just way weird. I don’t know. Anyway….he was real annoying even in his head. Always sucking up to that bitch priestess and fawning over her.”

Coran finished covering the area in the cream and then unrolled some bandages and wrapped it around his neck. He moved on to treat the small rub burns on Lance’s wrists and bandaged them too. There was a tightness and overwhelming exhaustion written over the man’s features and his hands were shaking a little.

“Are you doing okay, Coran?” Lance asked, concerned by how quiet the man was being.

Coran looked surprised by the question. Lance realized they didn’t spend nearly enough time checking in to see how Coran was faring.

“Oh…my boy, I’m just fine. Was just pretty worried about you all,” he said, kindly patting his head.

Lance smiled a little at the familiar affection. It reminded him of the moments his father would pat him on the head before leaving for work when he was a kid and it brought up a feeling of bittersweet nostalgia and longing.

He forced himself to focus back into the present and the man in front of him.

“It was still a pretty scary thing for you too. It’s okay if you were scared,” Lance said, softly.

Coran chuckled, the movement ruffling his mustache a little. “It _was_ scary. But everything is going to be okay now, so I’m better just like you are. Thank you for asking, though. You’re a kind boy.”

Lance nodded, as Coran finished up his treatment and pressed a few buttons on the pods, before leaving Shiro and Lance alone.

Shiro was looking at Lance fondly and he looked around.

“What?”

“Just…” Shiro said, looking like he was wondering what to say. “You’re a good person, Lance. Sometimes I think we take you for granted. Along with Coran, too.”

Lance stammered. “Oh…uh, I don’t know about any of that…I mean, of course I care about everyone and how they’re doing. You’re all my family.”

Shiro smiled and nodded. “That’s why I think you’re a good person. But anyway, I’ll leave you to rest some and go find out what’s happening on the ground.”

He left and Lance stood up on shaky legs to head over and look up at Keith’s pale face in the pod. He sighed, laying a hand on the glass.

“We definitely need a vacation after this,” he muttered, exhausted.

And then went to change and get ready to camp out between the two pods.

Six or so vargas later, after a good nap in a nest of blankets and pillows under Keith’s pod, Akira’s pod hissed and opened up. Lance was already right next to the glass, having counted down the ticks to see whether or not Akira had really broken the brainwashing.

The tiger blinked awake, raising his giant head and turning bright red eyes to Lance and staring.

Lance was tense, waiting to see if he had to fight the tiger, but he chirped at him, docile.

“Oh thank gods, baby you’re okay, you’re back with us!” Lance said, tearing up in joy.

He hugged Akira’s head and scratched behind his ears. Akira chirped again, sounding agitated and concerned.

Lance leaned away and smiled at his baby. “Hey, good to see you again. You feeling okay?”

Akira yawned in response, smacking his lips. Lance giggled as he licked Lance’s nose and cheeks a few times.

“Okay baby, let’s get you out of here and feed you a little.”

He took time taking care of Akira, feeding him and looking over the new scars over his neck. It made him feel guilty looking at them, then realized there was still some dried blood in his fur.

“We should give you a bath.”

Akira chirped again, nuzzling Lance’s face and was gentle around Lance’s burns too. He didn’t move though, sitting himself down in front of Keith’s pod, resolutely. Lance looked between Keith and Akira, seeing a strange emotion in the tiger’s eyes.

“You know…that Priestess said something about how you’re…included in the bond somehow? Does that mean you really understand a lot of what we say? Or I guess…how we feel?” Lance asked him, curiously.

Akira turned to him, staring right into his eyes. Then he bent forward to set their foreheads together. He chirped deeply, a rumbling purr erupting.

“I don’t really know if that’s supposed to be an answer…but, well…I guess that’s really cool if you actually can understand us. I just hope you don’t really understand anything about our dicks. You’re still a baby,” Lance said, gently scratching behind Akira’s ears.

Akira licked his nose gently, then turned back to stare at Keith. It was a few moments before Lance realized what he must be feeling.

“Hey, Akira. It’s okay, no one blames you for what happened,” Lance said, softly. Akira turned back to him, eyes wide and blinking. “Keith won’t be mad. And he’s going to be okay. He’s going to come out all healed up, just like you did.”

The tiger chuffed, licking Lance’s cheek. Lance giggled and patted his head.

“But we really should clean you up. You’re all bloody and crusty and gross. But hey, it’ll feel good after the healing pod. I know I love a good shower after the healing pod. So come on.”

Akira finally obeyed and followed after him, trotting along at a tired pace. They headed into the back showers, Lance stripping off his clothes and only beginning to feel strange about the idea that Akira had more sentience than they originally thought.

But then he decided, eh Akira walks around naked anyway.

He led the tiger back into the showers and turned on the water, washing the blood and grime out of Akira’s fur. He grabbed one of the soaps, then paused.

“Uh…what’s the best thing for your fur? Do you need something specific? Like what’s your skincare needs?” Lance asked, completely serious.

That’s something important to look into.

Akira tilted his head and chirped. Lance sighed.

“Okay. Well, I’ll just get the most non-toxic one. Maybe some baby shampoo.”

He scrubbed at Akira’s fur, the tiger purring like a machine. He laughed under his breath, glad that at least he was translating he was feeling nice.

Lance spent a few moments looking after himself, too. He realized he hadn’t actually taken a shower since before they landed on the planet. Akira stretched a few times turning his head back and licking the water out of the air.

After they were done, Lance dried them both off and got dressed in more comfortable clothes. He decided to grab one of Keith’s castle-made hoodies that felt like velvet. He sighed into the material, feeling better about a lot of things.

As he bundled in the nest and Akira sat at attention under Keith’s pod, he drifted back to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> shiro redemption arc implemented


	38. Chapter 38

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Someone mentioned a vacation?

Falling out of the healing pods was always annoying to Keith.

The cold cryochamber was freezing and he couldn’t stop shivering after getting booted out. And he was always lingering in the moments before he blacked out, so he always felt phantom pains where he had been injured. And falling into mystery arms or even staggering onto the floor with no one around were both disconcerting in their own way.

This time, arms were indeed there to catch him and he melted in the familiar blue whirlpool.

“Hi, _gatito._ Welcome back,” Lance said to him, softly.

Keith sighed with relief, standing up and sweeping Lance into a searing kiss. Lance made a surprised noise, before responding instantly.

“Ew gross.”

“Pidge, give them a break. They’ve been through a lot.”

“A lot of that was kind of your own fault.”

“I _said_ I was _sorry!”_

Keith broke away and chuckled at the commentary from behind Lance. He looked around to see the team was all congregated, safe and sound. Then he frowned, searching around.

“Where’s Akira?” he asked, confused.

A small pitiful meow peeped under a blanket at his feet. He sent a questioning tendril and look to Lance.

Lance sighed, looking at the bundle with sad eyes, speaking to Keith softly in his ear.

“He’s been kind of beating himself up since everything happened. I think he’s been feeling guilty.”

Keith blinked in shock, then dropped to his knees quickly to move the blanket over. Akira was in a tiny ball in his kitten form, hiding his face under an arm. Keith carefully stuck a finger under his chin to make him look up at him.

Large red eyes were shining and bright at him. Akira meowed softly, nuzzling the finger.

“I’m so glad you’re okay,” Keith said to him, quietly.

Akira meowed a few more times, as if he was trying to genuinely say something. Keith chuckled, picking the kitten up to sit against his chest.

“I’m fine, baby. Don’t worry. None of it was your fault, okay?” he said, stroking gentle fingers over his back.

Akira looked right at the tattered remains of his under suit and the new deep scars over his arm where he was bitten. The kitten made a few distressed mewling noises, squirming out of Keith’s grasp to lean over and lick the scars a few times in apology.

Keith’s heart crumpled at how genuine Akira was being. He seemed to know exactly what happened and then came to a conclusion it was his own fault. Keith couldn’t help the tears building in his eyes. He felt an arm around his waist and a head set against the side of his and he looked to see that Lance had his mouth covered and was hiding the sobs and whimpers behind it. Tears ran down his wrist and fingers.

Hunk, however, didn’t hide the sobs at all. He was leaning into Shiro’s human arm and bawling hysterically. Shiro looked down a little exasperated, but patted him on the head in comfort all the same. The rest of them looked concerned, misty-eyed or generally fond.

Pidge sniffled, swiping thumbs under her eyes and shaking her head.

“Okay, this is way too mushy for me. I’m heading back to the town.”

“But wait-,”

Keith cut himself off, embarrassed that he didn’t catch himself before speaking up. Lance backed away from him, getting a hold of himself as he interpreted Keith’s emotions.

“Aw, guys…he wants a group hug…”

Keith clicked his tongue, looking away. The team, however, immediately swept them all up together with Keith right in the middle. Keith sighed and couldn’t help the small rumble from his chest and throat.

Shiro’s lip wobbled at the sound as he looked down.

“Kiddo…you’re so _cute._ ”

“I’ll cut off your other arm Shiro, shut _up._ ”

After some time in a shower, food and a nap for Keith, they all headed out to the town again.

That’s when he and Lance finally got to know what happened after Keith blacked out.

“So…apparently they’d all been under that crazy bitch’s control for like ten years. And the crystals were never meant to control anyone. It was supposed to be a pure source of energy for the people. And now…like everyone’s finding their bonds again. Or bonding for the first time. A bunch of like young adults to middle aged people are bonding on the spot. They’ve been celebrating since last night,” Pidge explained over the comms in the lions.

Keith was suited in his newly repaired suit and Red was purring over his mind, glad for his recovery.

As they touched down in a line outside the gates again, Keith felt anxious at the memory of what happened the last time they went through them. He headed out with a trepidation, then instantly found Lance waiting for him.

Keith smiled at him, comforted by the oceanic tendrils over his mind. They linked hands and Keith reached up to stroke over Lance’s cheek lovingly as they were without helmets.

“Hey,” Lance said, grinning.

“Hi there,” Keith responded, curling his fingers through the ends of Lance’s hair framing his face.

“ _Ugh,_ will you come on?” Pidge called out, teasing.

“Give us a damn minute, will you?” Keith called back, flipping up his middle finger at her over Lance’s shoulder.

Lance laughed, leaning in and kissing Keith’s temple. “Let’s go. She says she has a surprise for us. I’m both scared and intrigued.”

Keith hummed, also feeling both scared and intrigued. Pidge’s surprises were always one of two things: something that was way, way cool and impressive or something that was more than likely going to blow up in their faces.

They followed the rest into town, hands linked tight together.

People were way, _way_ different in town.

All of them were smiling wide and hugging each other, barely any more crystals around their necks and if they did have some, it was a single solid clear rock dripping down their giant neck. They all immediately took to Voltron’s presences, speaking to them with excited voices.

And the addition of Keith meant they went straight for them.

“Hello, hi!” a woman said, clutching at Keith’s free hand. “You’re the one bonded to the blue paladin, yes?”

Keith was startled by all the attention, as a group congregated around the two of them.

“You’re bonded!”

“Oh, I feel the love and cherishing!”

“Yes, that means we can give them their ceremony!”

“You both are so lovely!”

“Thank you for saving us from that heretic Priestess!”

Keith and Lance stuck closer together, looking around in confusion.

“Alright! Alright, give the two paladins some space, yes?”

A familiar voice rang out, quieting the group. Both Keith and Lance tensed at the voice.

“Solarnep?” Lance asked, warily.

The group parted and the former Priestess’ attendant stepped forward, free of crystals and looking quite ashamed.

“Yes, I’m here to escort you to your ceremonial ritual,” he said, awkwardly. “And I’d like to apologize. I was aware of the fact the Priestess was using the crystals to control everyone, but she had my bonded partners in custody and was using them to blackmail me.”

He bowed low in apology. “Please accept my humblest apologies for my part in separating and controlling you.”

Keith stalled in surprise. “Oh…that’s…it’s fine…I’m sorry about your partners. Are they okay now?”

Solarnep brightened with joy. “Yes, yes they are both just fine! In fact, we are all to attend you both as you partake in the first bonding ceremony in ten rotations in Xeronrossthenfoundlen!”

“Okay, a few questions,” Lance said, putting a finger up. “One, what’s this about a ceremony? Two, is it like the crystal trials? Because if so, I’d like to politely and also very _impolitely_ decline. And three, would you ever consider changing the name of this planet? Because like…geez, dude. It’s such a mouthful.”

Solarnep blinked at him. “I’m sorry, were you not informed of the ceremony?”

_“Surprise!”_

The team said this all in unison as they entered the picture, hands shaking like jazz hands. Shiro was even in on it, albeit looking reluctant with the jazz hands.

“It’s finally your very own Farsnow ceremony!” Coran said, grinning bright and wide.

“Which will double as your vacation. For just the two of you,” Allura said, sweetly.

Keith’s jaw dropped. “Wait, seriously?”

“Yep!” Pidge said, stepping forward and gesturing to Solarnep. “So this guy tells me all about the bonds on the planet and how they had this super intimate ceremony for bonded partners and how they had these underground caves and pools with glowing crystals that were meant to ‘seal the deal’ so to speak on the soul bond. And I’m here thinking…well, that just might be something for the two knuckleheads that are beyond obsessed with each other and their bond. So I arranged it with them and asked if you could be the first to start up the traditions again!”

“And I helped them cook foods for you both for at least four days. So you don’t have to worry about any of that,” Hunk said, raising a hand.

“And we made sure that the Coalition is briefed on this. We were already scheduled to spend a week here, anyways,” Shiro said, as pragmatic as ever.

“And we’ve already set up Akira in the castle so that he’s taken care of the entire time you’re together,” Allura added, grinning.

Keith and Lance were stunned. Keith’s heart warmed at the generosity and care from their friends.

_This is my family…_

“You really did all that for us?” Lance asked, sounding a little emotional.

The team beamed together, nodding in unison.

“Of course, this is entirely your decision. It’s a very big step for bonded pairs to decide to partake in their bonding ceremony,” Coran said, hand gesturing to them both.

Keith looked to Lance, immediately feeling tendrils jump around in excitement and anticipation. Colors flitted through the rainbow and settled in their happiest of pinks, blues, reds, yellows and a new one that converged right in the middle of them.

A very bright and loving purple.

Lance grinned and swept Keith up into his arms, swinging him around happily. Keith laughed at the action, arms wrapping around his neck.

“You want to?” Lance asked, setting him down and looking right into his eyes. “This might be the final pushes to solidify things. You might even hear my voice in your head after this. I mean, Coran said that it was like…almost like getting married. Are you sure you’re ready for this, _gatito_?”

Keith nodded, leaning in and kissing him sweetly.

“I’m more than ready, sharpshooter. Let’s do this.”

Lance whooped, hand punching up in the air.

“Alright! Let’s get bond married!”

The paths to the ceremonial underground caves went around the city and almost to the giant river that fueled the giant waterfall next to the temple. It was through the forest and the path was lined with dusty crystals that lit up bright white as they passed.

“Oh wow, that’s so cool…” Lance whispered, staring at the crystals lit aglow.

Keith chuckled, along with Solarnep and his bonded partners. The woman (who Solarnep called Greneol) turned and smiled at them. She still looked like she was recovering with bruises over her face and wrists, burn marks that looked years old over her neck too.

“The crystals were always meant to vitalize bonds and create a sense of safety within the people. The former Priestess corrupted it by using the crystals to twist bonds. It never worked on us, though,” she said, flickering her eyes over her bonded partners with a smirk.

“That’s right,” the third partner (one who doesn’t use gendered language and only uses the name Zeronef) said. “She underestimated a lot of us. She was bound to lose control sooner or later.”

Solarnep was in the middle of them, hanging on to Zeronef’s hand with one hand and tucking Greneol under his other arm. He kissed the temple of Zeronef.

“My loves, I’ve missed you these long rotations,” he said, fondly.

Lance leaned into Keith, exchanging a glance with him and smiling softly. Keith knew that Lance was just thinking how cute they all were and he smiled back.

“The entrance is just up here. We have your ceremonial robes and you may use the pools however you wish. There is a number of absorbent towels and a flatbed surface so that you may sleep in between bonding sessions. And you may emerge whenever you feel as though you are done,” Solarnep said, separating from his partners and getting back to attending Lance and Keith.

Keith nodded. “Thank you.”

“No, I believe we owe _you_ an unending debt of gratitude, red paladin,” Zeronef said, kindly. “You saved our entire people and brought back our loves to each other. This is the least we could do to pay you back.”

“Especially to you, blue paladin,” Greneol added, turning to look at them. “You suffered through the corrupted crystals control. You even burned for it.”

“Oh, that was nothing,” Lance said, waving a dismissive hand. “I mean, _Keith_ did some pretty awesome stuff, that’s not a lie.”

Keith rolled his eyes. “When are you going to accept a compliment of your achievements? You were incredible, fighting off the control within just a day.”

Lance bit his bottom lip, but couldn’t hide the excitement in his emotions.

“Okay, fine. But you were really awesome, too. Don’t try to downplay that one either.”

“Yeah, yeah…”

The Xerons laughed, then the forest opened into a large clearing. The group stopped and Keith and Lance saw the entrance to the underground caves.

It was a dark brown rock formation jutting out of the ground, an unassuming opening about ten feet wide and high. The Xeron trio stepped back as Keith and Lance stepped forward to stand in the mouth.

“Here are your robes.”

They were handed white flowing silks, which Keith gawked at.

“Uh…is this all we have?” he asked, as it was barely long enough to cover anything important and was definitely sheer enough that the second it got wet…well, there’d really be no point.

“The caves have the perfect temperature to accommodate the most comfortable of any who enter and the pools sit at a body temperature. The robes are really only for enough privacy so that if there is any reason to go up to the surface again, no one would be uncomfortable. Many spend their time down in the caves without any robes at all,” Zeronef explained, with a sly wink at them.

Lance’s face visibly darkened and he cleared his throat.

“Oh…uh, okay. Heh.”

The trio then bowed their heads and left them alone. Lance and Keith looked at each other, then shrugged.

“Let’s get bond married,” Keith said, laughing nervously.

Lance snorted.

“Come on.”


	39. Chapter 39

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The caves are explored and boundaries are set

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so I may have gone...completely overboard and wrote like chapters of just bonding and the ceremony...but i still really want to end it how i originally planned so just be warned...so much fluff and bonding and awkward boys incoming

The caves were _incredible._

As they walked down a tunnel down into a large cavern underground, the rocks turned strangely spongy and soft, yet the ground underneath them still firm to keep it from becoming uncomfortable to walk on. The sound was actually muffled, rather than echoing (which was mind-boggling to Lance but he had no idea how to even ask about it).

And then they entered the large cavern.

“Woah…” was said in unison.

Crystals were glittering all over the walls and ceiling. They shimmered and glowed to pulse artificial light over the space, so that it wasn’t dark at all. To the left, set close to the wall was a plump bed out of white fuzz that looked like a cloud. It had stacks of towels and silk sheets sitting next to it, including a few bowls of fruits and cracker-like snacks. There was even a frosted container that looked like it had something like cheese and fresh bottles of…something.

On the other side, there was a closed door, probably leading to the bathroom.

But the main attraction was obviously the pool that filled a carved-out bowl in the rocks, large enough to be a full lake underground. The water sparkled as crystals shined in the bottom of the bowl and a shallow end showed a similar look to a beach with dark black sand.

“Holy….shit?” Lance said, voice still muffled? Somehow?

It definitely _should_ echo but it doesn’t at all.

Keith’s red aura pulsed with a similar level of awe.

“They said we have like…days in here?” Keith asked, looking around with his head tilted back.

“Yeah…if we want to, that is. It’s all up to us.”

“I wouldn’t mind spending a while in here. It’s like…our own little pocket universe,” Keith said, grinning.

Lance smiled. “Totally.”

“So…what do we do first?” Keith asked, turning to look at him.

Lance held up the silks and quirked an eyebrow at him. “Do you…want to change into these? I mean, I don’t mind if you want to just hang out in our under suits. These are pretty…uh, revealing…”

Keith’s colors shifted as he thought it through. He frowned at the silk robe in his hand.

“Maybe we should first like…set some expectations here. Like…what we’re comfortable with doing and not doing,” Keith said, softly.

“Boundaries,” Lance provided, nodding. “Okay, that’s a good idea. Come on, let’s get out of the armor and just lay back in bed for a second. We can talk everything out.”

They did just that, with their armored pieces laying in piles near the opening of the entrance and their boots going there too. They sat on the fluffy pile of fuzz, Lance gasping at how soft and comfortable it was.

“Oh this is so much better than the monk stuff at the temple,” he said, flopping back and moaning. “Gods, it feels amazing…”

Keith sighed and nodded. “Wow, I really don’t get how all of this even works. What is this made from? How do the crystals work? Why doesn’t the cave have an echo?”

“Shh,” Lance said, putting a finger to Keith’s mouth. “Magic. Quintessence. Bond marriage. Who cares? It’s great. That’s all I need to know.”

Keith snorted and shook his head. “Fine. Fine. So…boundaries.”

“Right!” Lance said, rolling over to his stomach so that he could sit up on his elbows. “What are you thinking you’re comfortable with right now?”

Keith hesitated, turning his head away. His colors started shifting into apprehensive golden brown and yellows.

“Uh…why don’t you start?”

Lance chewed on his bottom lip. His heart pounded in anticipation and from nerves lighting up under his skin.

“O-okay…uh, well…actually…I think I’m ready…well, for everything?”

Keith’s head whipped back with wide eyes. “Wha-what do you mean… _everything_?”

Lance tried not to show a wince. “I just…we’ve kind of only had enough…ph-physical affection like…uh, kissing and stuff…because the emotional part of the bond was the most important. Which it totally still is! Like if that’s all we do together, uh you know…the emotions and the kissing and stuff…like totally fine with me! But, I think just in general….uh, I’m ready for… _m-more_ …if you are, that is…”

_Oof, that was definitely the least sexy way you could present that. Nice one, McClain._

Keith sucked in a few breaths, colors turning a darker shade of red at the core and outwardly pinks.

“O-oh…o-okay…um, actually…I think I’m ready for that, too?” Keith said, nervously scrunching up his lips. “But uh…I think in _here…_ I think we can take our time to lead up to that? Like we don’t have to do… _everything…_ right away…right?”

“Oh yeah of course not!” Lance said, nodding. “And again…if you’re not wanting to do it at all yet or even ever…completely comfortable with that. The bond itself is honestly more than enough for me. I just think…exploring more of… _t-that_ …could be really… _g-good…”_

They stared at each other for a while, faces slowly heating up in embarrassment and Lance finally groaned and shoved his face into his arms.

“Gods, this is so much more awkward than I thought it was going to be…”

Keith chuckled, hand reaching over and stroking it up and down Lance’s back to show solidarity.

“I have a feeling, which I seemed to have a lot of nowadays, but I think a lot of our time here might get sort of awkward. Emotions can get pretty intense sometimes and we’re tied together really intimately. For all this to actually work fully…well, it’s probably going to get sort of embarrassing,” he said, laughing nervously.

Lance took a deep breath and turned his head to look as Keith laid next to him on his side.

“What do you think we should do first? I think I kind of _do_ want to change.”

Keith nodded. “Yeah, I’m already feeling scratchy in the suit.”

“Okay. So…turn around while we do? At least for right now?” Lance asked, sitting up and reaching for the silk robes.

“Y-yeah…for now at least. And uh…keep on…u-underwear?” Keith asked, clearing his throat.

Lance chuckled. “Yeah. Alright.”

They turned their backs as they stood and shimmied out of their suits. Lance pinned on the robes, feeling quite exposed with his legs completely out and about, only one strap to keep it up and the other side dropping low to show basically his entire chest. The fabric was velvety soft and supple against his skin, but his brown tone definitely showed through the sheer opacity.

“Uh…r-ready?” Keith said, sounding just as apprehensive. His colors translated a mild embarrassment.

“I’m done. Are you?” Lance asked, taking a few breaths to calm himself down.

“Y-yeah…”

He turned around and found Keith awkwardly trying to slump in on himself, his arms folding over the…

“ _Dios mío, voy a perder la cabeza,”_ Lance murmured, choking on his spit.

Keith had a string around his neck that conveyed that his robe was _open back_ and it was high neck in the front, but dropped low on the sides like a muscle tee, gathering the material in a soft bunch around his hips. It lay just barely covering the bottoms of his tight briefs. The rest of his entire body was entirely bare.

They stared at each other for a good minute or so, colors moving sensually around them and Lance finally broke the tension.

“So…uh…hungry?” he asked, voice squeaking a little.

Keith nodded quickly. “Yeah, let’s eat.”

And then Keith turned to show him the open back and Lance squeaked again. Keith looked over his shoulder, questioning eyebrow in the air and Lance laughed nervously.

“You staring at me, McClain?” Keith asked, sounding a little more confident than before.

“As if you weren’t staring right back, Kogane,” Lance said, huffing.

Keith shrugged, sitting down on the bedded material and reaching for the fruit.

“You got me there.”

Lance slowly smiled and laughed, genuinely relaxing again. Keith smirked up at him and he settled down next to him, laying on his side and propping up his head with a hand. He grabbed a bottle out of the frosted container to inspect it.

“What do you think this is?” he asked, curiously.

“Better not be alcohol. We already had that little adventure,” Keith said, taking it and trying to read its inscription.

“Hey, don’t knock that scene. We confessed because of it.”

Keith chuckled. “Yeah, I guess we did. Here, let me try it.”

He uncorked the contents and took a quick swig, making a surprised face. He scrunched up his nose as he swallowed.

“Oh. That’s like… _soda?”_

“You’re kidding?” Lance asked, sitting up and taking it. He took a gulp and found it definitely carbonated, but with a stranger taste. Like if someone mixed all the sodas in a soda fountain then added a few shots of vanilla.

“Oh hell yeah!” Lance said, grinning with glee. “We have to take like a dozen cases of this back onto the ship. That is so good.”

“I haven’t had anything carbonated in years. It almost _hurts_ now,” Keith said, taking back the bottle and drinking another gulp anyway.

Lance giggled at the adorable scrunching of his nose at the carbonation. They continued on eating, getting more and more comfortable with the amount of skin on display and slowly reintroducing casual touching.

“Open wide…” Lance said, offering a cubed fruit that tasted similar to a tangy citrus with a sugary finish.

Keith blushed at the cheekbones, but opened his mouth accordingly. Lance fed it to him, fingers lingering over his mouth and chin as he chewed. Keith smiled with a closed mouth and accepted a slow kiss from Lance as he leaned in.

Lance hummed, setting their foreheads together and just basked in the relaxed atmosphere of the comfortable bed and the slow-moving roll of their colors around them. Keith started purring softly in his chest and Lance smiled.

“This is really nice actually,” Keith muttered, breathing deeply.

“Yeah it is. Finally feel like we have time to figure everything out together. We’ve been so distracted with Shiro and then all this. But now…now its just us,” Lance said, softly.

Keith smiled and then tried to hide a small yawn. Lance chuckled, leaning back and brushing some hair out of his face.

“You want to just take another nap? You did just barely get out of the pods.”

“Are you sure? This is supposed to be like some big ceremony…or something,” Keith said, but still looking like he was pretty tired.

Lance shrugged. “Who’s going to tell us not to, huh? This is all our decision. And you’re still recovering.”

“Hey, you are too. Speaking of, are your burns okay?” Keith turned it back onto him as they laid back, with Lance tucking his head under Keith’s chin.

“The burn cream that Coran used is pretty potent. Don’t even feel it.”

They spoke softly for a few more minutes, but Lance could feel himself drift off with the sound of Keith’s purring against his ear.

Lance woke up warm, comfortable and when he opened his eyes, the cave’s lights had shifted to dim around them, except for a long line of them that glowed and sparkled in waves over the ceiling.

“Wow…” he breathed, following the paths of lights starting right over their heads and ending in the middle of the cavern ceiling, lighting up the pools.

Keith shifted next to him, blinking awake and the red tendrils enveloped Lance’s again. He looked to Lance, curious.

“What?”

Lance pointed to the waves of lights, on the ceiling and they both watched it pulse over them. Like it was trying to say something or tell them something. Like a path to follow.

“You think it’s telling us to get in the water?” Keith asked, staring at the sparkling pool water.

“Maybe it’s our first bonding session. We get to see what the crystals do,” Lance said, sitting up and looking at where the brightest pulse ended just over the middle of the water. It held in a starburst, like a target.

“Okay. I guess that’s where we start,” Keith said, standing up and stretching out his arms. “Do you want to keep the outfits on or go in…?”

“Uh yeah…we can keep them on. We have more robes and towels and stuff,” Lance said, unsure he was ready to see Keith completely nude except for underwear just yet.

Keith seemed a little relieved by that and they headed over to the small sandy beach part of the water. Lance didn’t actually feel nervous at all. It was like he was ready for whatever was coming. Keith entwined their fingers between them.

They waded into the water, Lance immediately noticing that it acted different than usual water. It didn’t flow or work against them, just accepted their bodies in the pool. And it was perfectly body temperature, just like the trio said. Keith made a surprised noise, then as the sandy bottom fell away, Lance found that they didn’t even have to tread or swim. And it didn’t have a smell at all.

“Oh wow, that’s really weird,” Lance said, as they were held up with no resistance. It was similar to floating in zero-gravity, but as though gravity itself had a form to keep them grounded.

_What a wild place. Pidge would have an aneurysm in here._

Keith looked up to see that they were still far from the middle of the pool, so they managed to do a form of swimming to finally settle right under where the crystals on the ceiling were glowing brightest.

And as soon as they were still facing each other, the crystals glowed white hot over them like a spotlight, then burst out over the ceiling like a firework, moving the waves to sink under the pools and then the crystals at the bottom of the pools glowed under them.

The ‘water’ sparkled around them and Lance gasped as it was brilliant and beautiful. He caught eyes with Keith, who was staring right into his. The white glow illuminated the bright indigo so that it reflected like tiny auroras.

_Reach out with your minds…go deepest within…see the many layers of your love…_

The voice was soft and encouraging, digging right into Lance’s sternum with longing. Because the crystals chose to use his own mother’s voice to speak to him. He let out a shuddering breath of shock.

Keith’s eyes widened at the same time.

“Did you hear that?” Keith whispered, awestruck.

Lance nodded, getting emotional.

“Are you ready?” Keith asked, floating closer to him and entwining his arms around Lance’s neck, gentle around his bandages.

Lance nodded again, setting his hands on Keith’s hips. He bent and set their foreheads together. He closed his eyes and knew that Keith did the same.

The world fell away as they entered each other’s minds fully for the first time.


	40. Chapter 40

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance and Keith must see the worst of each other's memories before they can move on to the happiest
> 
> TW:// childhood trauma and abuse, grief, attempted sexual assault, bullying

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay, so yes this is also angst but its okay because they're sweet to each other soo....  
> I've finally finished everything and can tell you all that there is indeed only 4 or so more chapters until the end and also one bonus explicit scene!! I'm super excited to finally finish this absolute monster of a fic it got so dang long

The first scene they came to was a memory.

Lance and Keith stood together like ghosts in their present age, while Keith recognized the first memory was one of his own. It was actually one of his worst.

 _“Oh…”_ Keith breathed out, staring at his eight-year-old self in front of his childhood house’s door. His younger self dug out the key in the planter on the porch, practiced in coming home to an empty house.

Lance looked between present Keith and younger Keith. “Do you…remember this?”

Keith nodded, squeezing his eyes shut. “I guess we’re starting off with the hard stuff. Listen…if we’re going through our hardest memories…then you should know my childhood was not…the best. Even when you know that I’m an orphan…there’s more to it.”

Lance frowned, colors swirling into anxiety and apprehension. He nodded all the same.

“Okay. Come here,” he said, offering a hand.

Keith took it without hesitation and then they followed his younger self into the house.

Little Keith set down his bag and checked around the house, looking bored and under stimulated. Present Keith sighed, looking at how his younger self slouched into the kitchen and made himself a sandwich and sat alone at the table to eat it.

“This is so…” Lance said, softly.

“Yeah. This happened a lot. My dad was really busy and we didn’t…have many friends or any family. It was just the two of us. And that meant…that I was alone a lot,” Keith said, watching as younger Keith chewed with despondent look on his face.

The memory shifted around them, to show the passage of time and it was suddenly night. Little Keith was curled up on the couch with his little knees drawn up against his chest, watching the TV play a random cartoon that he was obviously not watching.

He kept looking out the window and the door, waiting for his dad to come home.

Present Keith grimaced, knowing he never would.

Lance squeezed his hand, just as a knock sounded at the door. Present Keith jumped just as little Keith did.

It was the social worker along with the police and the fire department. They trooped into the house and little Keith nervously backed away.

Present Keith didn’t remember exactly what they said, but he did remember getting sat down and the social worker in crisp khakis and a plaid button down speak softly to him, while two of his dad’s coworkers covered in ash and sweat looked down on him guiltily.

The scene played on without any sound, a silent movie of bright police lights in his window and fire engine sirens.

“They said he was a hero,” Present Keith said to Lance next to him. “He ran back into the burning building to save an old man that had fallen under some broken beam. He managed to get him to the door and then the fire reached the gas line.”

“You were so young,” Lance whispered, eyes sparkling with tears. Little Keith let his tears shed.

He sighed. “Yeah…yeah I was.”

Then the scene melted away into white smoke, swirling around them to show a completely different house. Lance sucked in a breath, seeing a living room with a TV and walls covered with pictures of a large family and then chaos reigned around them.

Chatter in Spanish and English sounded with a background music too. Keith looked around with surprise.

A duo of little kids sprinted down the stairs to his left and scrambled with their little legs to yell out things and a sweet voice spoke back in Spanish.

“That’s you?” Keith asked, pointing to the little boy with a gap in his front teeth.

Lance smiled a little, watching as little him turned and poked his sister yelling out ‘tag, you’re it!’. She gasped, as he started running away to the back of the house.

“Me and Rachel.”

The scene sped around them to follow the quick sprint of little Lance. Present Lance’s colors froze just as his younger counterpart did. He was stopped in front of a cracked open door, as a voice carried from behind it.

Keith recognized it as an older man with a deep voice speaking. He seemed to be talking on the phone, as he would say a sentence then wait for a few seconds and say something else.

“-I just think that I see so much potential in all my children. I even see it in Rachel’s performance in school! She’s a tiny genius at ten years old!”

Present Lance cringed, but little Lance looked excited by the conversation so far. Keith was confused by the different reactions.

“But sometimes…I get worried about Lance.”

Little Lance’s face crumpled.

“He just…doesn’t show the same promise. He has trouble in school, his teachers all have issues with how restless he is in class. Just this year alone, we’ve been called in to talk to his counselor about his behavior five different times. He doesn’t focus and doesn’t have the same drive as his older brothers and sisters. I’m worried he will end up…not amounting to much.”

Present Lance’s face scrunched up and he turned away as little Lance’s giant blue eyes overflowed with tears and his tiny lips quivered. He silently ran away towards the back door. The scene shifted into a backyard, where younger Lance hid behind a swing set and cried silently.

“Lance…” Keith said, quietly.

Older Lance sighed, reaching up and running his hands over his face.

“He didn’t mean for me to hear it, but he wasn’t wrong. I was a hyper kid. Well, I’m a hyper adult too, I guess. I didn’t do well in a class setting with my ADHD and it took me years to get over it enough to get into the Garrison. I wanted to prove that I could be… _more_ than just my family’s disappointment.”

“Lance, you’re so t _alented_ and now look at you! You’re a paladin of Voltron!”

He took a few deep breaths and nodded. His hands dropped to his sides, still looking sad at his younger self.

Smoke enveloped around them, solidifying into a new house, one that Keith recognized immediately. He hissed in a breath of fear, just as he startled at a loud slam of a door.

His worst foster father came stomping into the rickety old house and yelling at the upstairs. A twelve-year-old Keith came running around the bend and staring down at his foster father with wide eyes.

Present Keith knew the drill of what was about to go down. Frank would start yelling at Keith for something he never did, blaming him for something that wasn’t his fault. His younger self would start apologizing profusely, trying not to flinch when a hand grabbed at his shirt. Lance gasped.

“Keith, oh my gods…” he said, alarmed.

“Wait for it…” Keith said, quietly.

Frank then hoisted Keith up by the collar and slammed him against the wall. Present Keith jumped and turned away from the scene, trying to quell the sudden shaking in his arms. Lance hurried to sweep Keith into a hug, hiding his face in his chest.

“Hey, it’s okay. Sshh, it’s alright. I’m right here.”

Keith breathed out and squeezed his eyes shut as Frank’s guttural yells reverberated over the memory, without any formed words. The general feeling was still conveyed.

They stayed in white smoky nothingness for longer that time, giving Keith a chance to calm down more.

“I’m so sorry that happened to you,” Lance whispered, choked up with emotion as he continued hugging him.

Keith couldn’t respond with anything beyond a sniffle.

The smoke dissolved again, shifting into familiar walls and chatter to the both of them. The Garrison halls solidified around them, to which both of them looked to see which of their memories it was.

It was evidently Keith’s as a mop of black hair moved swiftly through the crowd and went right to a classroom. They followed him in, Present Keith not sure exactly what was going to happen. The class trickled in and to Keith’s surprise, a younger Lance came in too. All students had their regulation traffic cone orange suits on and they all looked quite ridiculous having had years away from the school.

“Oh… _shit_ …” Older Lance muttered, looking anxious.

“What? I don’t remember this. Is this yours?” Keith asked, looking at him.

He cringed hard and sighed. “Just…watch.”

Keith did, seeing with even more surprise as a nervous, fidgety Garrison Lance sat right next to his own younger self. Young teenaged Keith was obviously bored and uninterested in the events or people around him.

Younger Lance glanced over to Keith a few times, interested in something. Keith ignored him. Then Lance reached over to tap at Keith’s arm. Keith looked at him, blinking.

“Hey, you’re Kogane, right?” Lance asked, expression morphing into a smirk. “You did really well on the exams. Almost as good as Takashi Shirogane. That guy’s like…legendary. It’d be awesome if you gave me a few tips. You probably know your stuff.”

Keith quirked an eyebrow at him. “Yeah, I guess. You in fighter?”

Lance winced. “Ah…no…I’m in cargo…only for now, though. I’ll get to fighter in no time!”

Keith scoffed, sounding like he didn’t believe it. “Come talk to me when you’re on my level, cargo pilot.”

Present Keith cringed and grabbed at his forehead. “ _Shit,_ oh gods, Lance…I didn’t even…I was so obsessed with myself that I just…”

Younger Lance looked so offended, as if he was a hair away from punching Keith. Present Lance sighed, shaking his head as the class was called to salute and start the lecture. Younger Lance kept sending death glares to a disinterested Keith.

“It’s fine. Well, I mean…it’s not _really_ fine because it fueled a lot of my hatred towards you…but this also really motivated me to work hard and get better,” he said, shrugging.

Keith groaned, humiliated and guilty. “It doesn’t matter. That was so rude. I’m so, so sorry.”

“ _Gatito,_ it’s okay,” Lance said, coming over and cupping Keith’s cheeks. “It was a long time ago. We were really young. I gave up on the petty grudge years ago.”

Keith still pouted, glaring at his younger self too. “I was an asshole at the Garrison. I wouldn’t even deserve your friendship back then.”

“Oh come on,” Lance said, chuckling. “You were just…going through a lot of stuff. I was just as obsessed with my issues as you were.”

The scene melted into smoke yet again, swirling into a new memory. This time, Keith knew exactly whose it was.

“Oh no…” he whispered, stepping back to watch as the scene played out.

A younger Keith sat cross-legged on the bench in a locker room, looking anxious. He had his uniform unbuttoned and open, showing just a white t-shirt underneath. He looked around to see if someone came in, which a new figure came around the corner.

The boy was the cutest boy in their class, but tragically in the closet and had a bad case of internalized homophobia.

Keith looked up and tried his best to look as cool and detached as possible. The boy smirked, coming forward and kissing younger Keith feverishly. Keith responded, hand clenching in the boy’s hair.

“Woah…you and Danny Hossen?” Lance asked, surprised. “I thought he was dating that girl in engineering?”

“He was…” Keith said, crossing his arms and looking away.

Danny’s hand came over to slip underneath the uniform’s shoulder pad and it fell off Keith’s frame. His other hand then went dangerously low, close to Keith’s pant buckle.

Keith made a sound, grabbing the hand before it did. He separated, shaking his head.

“Wait…” younger Keith said, breathless.

“What, Kogane? You scared or something?” Danny asked, snottily. “Thought you’d be begging for it. A guy all willing to get into your pants.”

Keith frowned, but Danny started getting more physical. He grabbed at Keith’s hands to force him down as Lance gasped next to Present Keith. Younger Keith yelled out a ‘hey!’ as he struggled against the hold on him.

“Oh my gods…” Lance said, covering his mouth with his hand.

Younger Keith bared his teeth angrily and then his knee swung up, nailing Danny right in the crotch. Danny fell back, face turning blue and his legs slipped out under him, ankle twisting painfully.

Keith ran off and the scene dissolved.

Lance’s jaw was dropped to the ground. “ _That’s_ how he sprained his ankle? The guy said he hurt it in a training accident!”

Keith rolled his eyes. “He was full of shit. I thought he was all I deserved. I ended up coming clean to his girlfriend a few weeks later. He left the Garrison pretty soon after that.”

“Yikes. What a douchebag.”

Smoke swirled into yet another memory. They looked around to see a familiar scene of the scoreboards up on the bulletin board, crowds of kids swarmed to see where they landed on the ranking.

Lance groaned, dejected. “Oh _great._ ”

Keith watched as a younger Lance glared at the board, hands clenched in anger. Hunk next to him was patting him on the back. The rest of the kids’ chatter fell away and it was just them talking.

“Dude, it’s okay. You’ll get it next time,” Hunk said, encouragingly.

Lance growled, finger shoving right to the top. Right over Keith’s name sitting at a first position ranking.

“That asshole thinks he’s _so_ great. So much better than all of us. Man, I wish someone would just take him down a peg,” he said, angrily.

“I think we can all agree on that.”

Both present and younger Lance whipped around with wide eyes.

“Oh no, oh s _hit…_ ” Present Lance said, looking terrified.

James Griffin was standing there, looking irritated and glaring at Keith’s name too. Present Keith was confused, however, on Lance’s reaction.

Griffin came over to point up at Keith’s name and smirked at younger Lance.

“That guy basically rules the school but no one even wants him here anymore. He’s got no friends. All he has is Shirogane’s constant praise. And even he’s gone on to go to Kerberos. So he’s all alone here. Why don’t we just give him the push he needs to leave? Then you’ll probably be accepted into fighter and I’ll be number one. Everyone wins,” he said, an eyebrow quirked at Lance in offering.

Hunk frowned. “Uh…wait, I don’t know about-,”

“What do you have in mind?” younger Lance asked, smirking.

Present Lance cringed and the scene shifted again. It was then to Keith’s locker in the locker room. It was night, based on the lighting and the clothes Lance and Griffin had on. Griffin shook a can of what looked like spray paint and the young cadets covered their faces in cloths as they both spray painted over Keith’s locker.

Keith remembered what was being written. It was: ‘DROP OUT’ in big black letters. He remembered the day after, finding those words right before going in for a simulation run.

“Oh… _y-you_ …you did that?” Keith asked, somewhat shocked.

Lance groaned, hands coming up to grab at his hair and he shook his head.

“Gods, I’m…I’m _so_ sorry, Keith. I was just so angry and bitter that I was working so hard and you were able to just…be so good at everything! And of course, I was just…too young to really work out my frustrations healthily so I acted out. I hated myself as soon as-,” Lance started rambling with guilt swirling all through his colors.

The scene shifted again, but it came to show Keith staring at his locker the next morning, all the other kids hushed talking and snickering at his crumpled face. Younger Lance stared at Keith with a guilty expression and he hunched in on himself in the shadows.

Present Lance groaned louder, hands covering his face in shame. “Gods, I’ve never forgiven myself for that. It literally keeps me up at night. I’m so, _so_ sorry, Keith. This was so, so wrong of me. Especially right after Shiro going off to Kerberos. I only alienated you further.”

Keith sighed, shaking his head and feeling relieved as the scene dissolved into white smoke. He came over to grasp at Lance’s hands on his face and pulled them off. Lance’s eyes were watery and his colors were dingy and full of shame and guilt.

“It’s okay, Lance. We both have difficult pasts. I wasn’t exactly nice to you either,” he said, softly. “But everything’s different now. _We’re_ different now. And I know that nothing is going to change how I feel about you. Because I love you. More than anything.”

Lance sniffled, lip quivering. “R-really? Even though I…I did that to you?”

Keith nodded. “Do you feel the same even though you saw all of that about me?”

Lance quickly nodded, too. “Yes. Yes, I-I’d never stop loving you after knowing that stuff.”

“Then there we go,” Keith said, smiling. “I’m glad. That you saw all of that, I mean.”

Lance breathed a sigh of relief. “You forgive me?”

Keith pressed a kiss to Lance’s lips. “Yes. Do you forgive _me_?”

“Yes. Yes, I do.”

As they kissed, they found themselves coming right back into their bodies in the pool. They were still locked at the lips.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> listen, kids will be awful to each other. it's just how it is. the most important thing is how to move forward and to make it right to that person you hurt and yourself.


	41. Chapter 41

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first bonding session leads to even more bonding. But the fun kind, this time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SO HI HAPPY BIRTHDAY KEITH KOGANE I'M DOING SOMETHING CRAZY  
> I'm doing a full chapter dump so that this fic can be completed on our boy's birthday. i wanted to do something special and then i though 'hey...i do what i want' and i wanted this to be finally over lmao   
> so these next chapters will be added over the course of the day until tonight when i finish it off!!

As they found themselves coming back into their bodies, their emotions and their colors swirling with so much that it drained Lance of any energy. He sighed, head falling down to Keith’s shoulder.

“Wow. That was…a _lot_.”

Keith hummed. “Yeah…are you okay?”

Lance shrugged. “Maybe. Are you?”

“Kind of.”

Lance snorted. “Well…what do you want to do now?”

“I’m kind of…a little restless and I think I want a distraction. You think it’d be weird to work out a little bit?” Keith asked, frowning.

Lance hummed. “Yeah, why not? We can do some hand-to-hand. We haven’t actually tried that with the bond, have we?”

“Nope. That could…be really interesting,” Keith said, looking excited.

Lance grinned. “Alright let’s go, samurai.”

They swam back to the beach and found that as soon as they were out of the pool, that even while in the formed liquid, it didn’t f _eel_ like water, it acted like water to their skin and clothes.

Which meant they were soaked through to the bone with their white silky robes and basically see-through.

Lance couldn’t help staring at Keith’s dripping robes around him, transparent to see basically everything. Keith seemed to be stuck in his own head about it, blinking at him.

“Oh…uh…” Keith said, turning bright red at the ears and cheekbones.

Lance felt his own face heat up. “Well…”

Keith looked down and then he choked. “Oh geez…”

They dwelled in their embarrassment for a few moments, when Lance shrugged. “Well…I mean…might as well just take them off. Basically can see everything anyway.”

Keith blinked at him, then sighed. “Okay.”

And immediately unpinned his robe, letting it drop to a wet heap on the ground. Lance gulped and did the same. They kept their eyes averted, then slowly started walking over to the towels and wiped off the water.

Or…whatever it was that was in those pools.

“I’m going to uh…stretch,” Keith said, going over to the beachy part quickly.

Lance breathed deeply to get rid of his anxiety, shaking out his arms and nodding to himself.

“Alright. Just a dude. Just a guy. No need to get all freaked out,” he muttered to himself, psyching him up. “Plus like…you’ve seen him in his underwear before. This is nothing _new._ And after everything he just saw, there’s no reason to be embarrassed. Yeah.”

Lance turned around and saw Keith’s back, arms flexing over his chest, which pulled at his back muscles and flexed his figure. Lance pinched his arm hard to get rid of any more wandering urges.

He joined Keith on the beach, still averting his eyes and stretching out his arms and legs. They did this in silence for a few minutes, but kept a hold on each other’s emotions. After some time, it got more comfortable as they became used to the idea of the situation.

Their colors were brighter than before, with more depth at the core. Lance noticed there were actual splashes of deep purple buried underneath the outward rolling red crimson. He didn’t know exactly what that purple was supposed to mean.

Keith caught him looking, then slowly smiled. He turned and lowered his center of gravity.

“You ready, sharpshooter?”

Lance smirked, turning completely to face him head on and brought up his fists.

“Bring it on, samurai.”

All of a sudden, their colors swirled together like a tornado above them and Lance found out that fighting each other with the bond was _awesome._

Lance knew even before the bond that Keith had a habit of starting with a right hook. So it was easy to dodge and head under with a jab at his ribs. Keith twirled away, sand kicking up at the force of it.

Lance grinned at the thrill, Keith mimicking his side-stepping as they circled each other. Lance kept a hold on all of Keith’s small changes in colors, noticing a bright yellow spark burst right before Keith darted forward with a combo hit.

Lance ducked under it, sweeping his leg out to catch Keith’s ankles. Keith back flipped out of the way and Lance outright laughed.

“Show off,” he said, not at all bothered.

Keith landed perfectly, winking at him. “I have more reason to try and impress.”

“Then impress me, _gatito.”_

Keith snarled, playfully. He ran at him with his head low and Lance rolled to the side, managing to catch the change in Keith’s colors as he pivoted on the balls of his feet, bringing up an arm to stop an overhand attack.

This brought their faces quite close, Lance crouching on the ground and Keith standing over him.

They stared at each other, breathing hard. Then Lance tried to catch him off guard by shoving him away and grabbing his arm, pulling it behind Keith’s back.

But of course, Keith saw it coming so he expertly weaved through the arms and turned it back on Lance.

With an arm behind his back, he teasingly pinched Keith’s gloriously muscled thigh, which Keith evidently was _not_ prepared for and he yelped in surprise. Lance laughed even more, as he whipped around, twisting Keith around and knocking him down to a knee with his back to Lance.

Keith hummed and tilted his head back. “That was good. If not playing dirty.”

“All’s fair in love and war, my little _gatito,”_ Lance said, voice deeper than usual.

Keith’s eyes and colors sparked and Lance was finally caught off guard when Keith turned and _licked_ his arm. Lance gasped in surprise, loosening his grip and Keith spun in place, knocking out Lance’s legs from under him and he fell to the soft beach sand.

Keith easily rolled on top of his waist, pinning his arms.

“What was that about all’s fair in love and war?” Keith asked, smirking down at him.

Lance stuck out his tongue at him. Keith laughed, openly and full-bodied. Lance slowly smiled and he accepted his defeat.

For round one at least.

They ended up rough housing for a few hours. They got so caught up in figuring out the puzzle to one up each other, even when they could predict when the other would move and how they would. It got to be so complicated, all their sparring ended up with a lot of ties.

They were going fairly easy on each other though, as they were still supposed to be on vacation. But they were also still paladins of Voltron. Got to keep in shape and all.

And they might have gotten really into the excuse for so much skin-to-skin contact.

After they were finally done, Lance sighed with relief as they laid back on the bedding.

“Damn. That was actually really fun,” Lance said, laughing.

Keith hummed. “We’re basically evenly matched, so it makes sense. It’s always more fun to fight someone equal.”

Lance’s jaw dropped. “You think we’re equally matched?”

Keith turned over to his side, propping up his head with an arm with an excited blur of colors.

“Yeah, totally. I’m obviously faster and more experienced, stronger too. But you’re smarter and more flexible. More unpredictable. You improvise really well.”

Lance gawked. “You’re just saying that.”

“No really,” Keith said, bluntly. “Why would I lie about that?”

Lance shrugged. “To make me feel better after feeling like total shit after all those humiliating memories that showed just how lame and insecure I am.”

Keith frowned. “Okay, we’ll circle back to all _that_ later. But I wouldn’t just do that. There’s plenty other things I could compliment you about other than your fighting skills.”

“Oh?” Lance prompted, intrigued.

“Yeah?” Keith said, smiling. “Like how good of a person you are? Or how kind and thoughtful? How considerate and caring? Funny and smart? Hard-working? Need I go on? Maybe add in how ridiculously hot and _attractive_ you are?”

All of Keith’s emotions only translated that he was telling the truth.

Lance slowly grew warmer and warmer in his face until it was basically steaming. He covered it with his hands and curled up, turning on his side and made a noise that sounded close to squeal.

Keith laughed, patting his head lightly.

“How can you just _say_ things like that?” Lance asked, embarrassed, but also really, really happy.

“Because it’s the truth. Nothing to be embarrassed about if its just honesty,” Keith said, kissing his temple lightly.

“Ah geez…my insides feel all gooey and sappy now.”

“Good. Goo and sap is better than how we felt earlier.”

Lance hummed, slowly unfurling and looking up at Keith’s face looking down on him. He reached over and ran a few gentle fingers over the new scars on Keith’s arm. The bite mark from Akira.

“I really am sorry for all that happening to you. It’s amazing how well you turned out after all that. You’re so…so _strong_ ,” he said, quietly.

Keith sighed deeply. “I don’t know about that. I made a lot of mistakes. And it made me so…closed off from other people. To try and protect myself. I never liked that about me.”

“I wish…” Lance said, frowning. “I wish I could have bonded with you back then. Maybe…maybe I could have helped you carry your burden. That is so much for a kid to go through alone. And…and we could have just been there for each other. I want to give little Keith a big ol’ hug and just…tell him it’ll be okay.”

Keith melted into a soft smile. “You already do, though. That sad little orphan boy is still inside me. And every time you smile at me, let me know how much you care…let me see inside your mind…it helps. And I think that…better late than never, right?”

Lance smiled back, heart warming and love basically spewing from his very soul. He nodded.

“Yeah. Better late than never.”

They kissed in the middle, finally comfortable with each other in the most natural way.

They took time in the shower and the bathroom, then slept for a few hours in new robes. They figured about a day had passed, but they were still feeling like they had some progress to do.

Which is why Lance offered up a game to pass the time until they were emotionally ready for another intense bonding session.

“What game?” Keith asked, munching on some food that had been left in the entrance of the cave while they slept. Lance was stretched out over the bedding, enjoying the quiet, private time with Keith.

“How about fuck, marry, kill?” Lance asked, smirking.

Keith looked unimpressed. “Really? A party game that’s really only fun because people are drunk?”

“Hey, it’s been way too serious all the time with us. I want some trashy bonding time where we still have fun and don’t constantly analyze our inner demons,” Lance said, taking a swig of the soda-like beverage.

Keith rolled his eyes. “Fine. You start. Don’t add in each other. That’s just going to be us marrying each other all the time.”

“Pfft, yeah true. So how about…Hunk, Pidge and Shiro. Go.”

“Obviously marry Hunk,” Keith said, immediately. Lance nodded, sagely. “I guess…fuck Shiro, kill Pidge?”

“Aw, little Pidgeon?” Lance asked, pouting.

“I’d feel way worse killing Shiro,” Keith said, frowning. “But I really still don’t like fucking him.”

Lance snorted. “I’d switch Pidge and Shiro. But only when she’s of age. If it’s right now…yeah, I’d have to kill her too.”

“Taken before her time,” Keith said, feigning a lament. “She will be missed.”

Lance chuckled. “Okay, you go.”

Keith hummed, thoughtful. “Oh, the Xeron trio.”

“Ohhh, that’s really good…I don’t even know about that,” Lance said, scratching his chin. “I guess…marry Solarnep, fuck Zenothel or whatever and kill Geneol? Grenthen? I don’t remember their names.”

“I think so too. But I’d be really conflicted about it,” Keith said, shaking his head. “And it’s Zeronef and Greneol.”

Lance giggled. “You take it so seriously.”

Keith rolled his eyes. “Fine then. Do one that I won’t take seriously.”

“Okay…hm…how about Zarkon, Haggar and…Sendak?” He asked, grinning.

“What the-why would that be your first choice of one I _wouldn’t_ take seriously?” Keith asked, incredulous.

“Oh come on. The craziest ones are the most interesting!” Lance said, laughing. “So…”

Keith sighed, scrunching his face up in disgust. “I _guess…_ I would…fuck Sendak, marry Haggar and kill Zarkon.”

“ _Oh,_ bold choices. Explain your reasoning,” Lance said, intrigued.

“There isn’t any rules that state I can’t kill anyone a _fter_ I either fuck or marry them. And killing Zarkon would be a given, so take out the big guy, get a good hate fuck in with Sendak and maybe get some good magic information by marrying Haggar before I kill both of them, too,” he said, with incredible conviction.

“Huh. Actually…makes a lot of sense. Although I’d marry Zarkon, fuck Haggar and kill Sendak.”

“Really? You’d _marry_ Zarkon?” Keith asked, gob smacked.

“Hey, we got to get a hold of the Empire somehow, because if you just kill Zarkon outright then there’s a huge power vacuum. Marry him and gain control, then poison him or something in his sleep. Obviously, I’d rather fuck Haggar than Sendak. Bet you that witch is _super_ kinky in bed. I’d like to at least enjoy it a little,” he responded, pragmatic.

Keith blinked at him for a few moments, then sputtered into laughter. His colors lit up in glee and humor, making Lance grin wide.

“What?” Lance asked, confused.

Keith shook his head. “Our lives are _weird_ as hell.”

“That they are, my love. That they are.”

It was then that the crystals over their head burst into a glow again, waving over the ceiling just like it had been before. They looked up and Lance felt a lot more anxious knowing what was likely to come.

“I guess it’s time. I’m taking off my robe this time,” Keith said, standing up and unpinning the cloth so it fluttered to the ground.

Lance accepted the hand to help him up and did the same to unpin his robes. They waded out into the ‘water’ and swam to the center of the pools just like before.

They stared at each other and took a few breaths before setting their foreheads together again and sinking into the white smoke.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the next chapter should be up in just a couple hours!!


	42. Chapter 42

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Second bonding session is more familiar to them and new discoveries are made

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> second to last chapter, y'all!!   
> We're almost done here!!

The white smoke filled the space and solidified into a familiar shack in the desert. The scene was at night.

Keith next to him looked resigned to what was going to happen next. They watched as the door opened and an older Keith, but still a few years younger than the present, strolled out. He had a few scanners and he calibrated it at the sky and then frowned at the readings.

“Did you ever leave this place to see a _nyone?”_ Lance asked, concerned.

Keith shrugged. “I would go get groceries sometimes. Supplies for my hovercraft. I would sometimes get frustrated enough to go to a bar in town and go home with a random guy. Lying about my age, obviously.”

“Oh yikes, Keith. That’s all really not healthy,” Lance said, frowning at him.

“I wasn’t exactly in my healthiest mindset,” he said, darkly.

The scene shifted into a familiar night on a rooftop. It was Lance, Hunk and Pidge gathered. Pidge had her equipment all around her as she was explaining the alien radio chatter signals she was getting. The night continued just as he remembered, with Shiro on the screen shouting about aliens and Voltron, then the explosions.

Keith was interested in this side of that night, while Lance tried not to groan in embarrassment for the line that was incoming from him.

“Those explosions _were_ a distraction! For _him_!” Pidge said, pointing at Keith’s figure running into the building.

“No way! Oh…he is not going to beat us in there! That guy is _always_ trying to one up me!” past Lance yelled out.

“Who is it?”

“ _Keith!”_

“Are you sure?”

“Oh I’d recognize that mullet anywhere!”

Present Lance groaned in embarrassment, while Keith burst into laughter. Lance shoved him playfully, pouting.

“Shut up!” he said, growing hot in the face.

“It’s good to know I was so memorable. Even after a year being kicked out of the Garrison. And where the obsession with my hair came from,” Keith said, cheekily.

The scene shifted into the familiar dialogue while saving Shiro.

“Who are you?”

“Who am I? Uh, the name’s _Lance.”_

Present Lance decided they both probably remembered the scene fairly well as it was so recent, so he talked over the memory. The dialogue quieted to background noise.

“So you seriously didn’t remember me?” Lance asked, an eyebrow quirked at Present Keith.

Keith sighed, shrugging. He looked bothered by his own lines of dialogue.

“I remembered that you were in cargo. I don’t know. I was pretty focused on Shiro in the moment. Then you just…declared us rivals. Which I completely missed out on, to be honest.”

Lance huffed. “Typical.”

“I’m sorry. That I was so inconsiderate and if it seemed like I looked down on you or anything,” Keith said, quietly. “I’ve gotten better, but especially back then…I have a lot of problems with…social cues and communication. You came in really…intense and hot, like _against_ me and I guess I just didn’t know how to properly react. You’ve always just…really confused me more than anything.”

Lance hunched in on himself in regret for how he let his insecurity color his view of Keith for so long. It was stunningly obvious from being connected to Keith’s head just how much he actually loved and cared for people. Keith always just wanted somewhere to feel like a home.

The scene shifted again around them, constructing the castle. Lance hummed.

“This is interesting. Why is it showing stuff from so recent? We know what’s going to happen all of this, right?” Lance asked, confused.

“Maybe there’s more that the other hasn’t seen. We definitely weren’t attached at the hip at the beginning,” Keith said, shrugging.

“I’m not sure, but I bet it was Keith’s fault,” past Lance said, glaring at Past Keith.

“Say whatever you want to make yourself feel better…after getting us stuck on the other side of a _wormhole!”_ past Keith said back, angrily.

“ _I’LL STICK YOU IN A WORMHOLE!”_

Present Lance rolled his eyes. “Okay, I’d like to go on record…to say that w _asn’t_ my best line.”

Present Keith chuckled. “It’s…kind of really funny now.”

“ _Oh, I’ll still stick you in a wormhole alright,”_ Lance said, dropping his voice down an octave.

Keith barked a laugh and shook his head. “Also wasn’t your best line.”

The scenes moved quicker this time, probably seeing as how a lot of these included both of them. They moved to a hallway in which they were bickering again, but this time it was silently. The ghostly figures of them watched as they got in each other’s faces and yelling about literally anything.

Lance sighed, shaking his head. “I’m sorry. For constantly picking fights with you for all that time. It was childish and dumb. You didn’t mean to make me feel insecure. You were just…great. You existed as you are and I perceived that as a threat. It was wrong. So…I’m sorry.”

Keith entwined their fingers between them and leaned into him. He smiled fondly at him.

“It’s okay. I wasn’t exactly really mature in how I responded either.”

The scene shifted again, coming to a dark room with purple lighting and Lance was surprised. He didn’t remember what was playing out, even as he was moving and Keith was kneeling next to him in the memory. Keith wrapped an arm around Lance’s back and held his hand to right him up again.

Lance turned to past Keith and gave an exhausted smile.

“We did it. We _are_ a good team.”

Past Keith smiled back, holding his gaze and looking relieved and fond. Present Lance gasped, pointing to the two of them. Present Keith groaned, shoving his face in his hands.

“Is this… _The Bonding Moment_?! Keith?!” Lance said, gaping.

“Yes. This is the Bonding Moment,” Keith said, sighing.

Lance crouched in front of their past expressions, the scene freezing on them staring at each other. He tilted his head as his heart warmed at how fond they looked. And the romantic mood lighting.

“Wow. How did we not notice we liked each other? It’s so obvious,” Lance said, gesturing.

Keith pointed an accusatory finger. “Hey, I was the one who actually remembered this. You forgot like an asshole.”

“I was in a coma!” Lance said, defensively. “And I was blown up saving Coran’s life!”

Keith rolled his eyes, but smiled a little. “I guess it’s better late than ever.”

The white clouds enveloped the image and churned to produce the training deck, with Keith and Shiro doing intense hand to hand.

Keith had his teeth gritted in frustration and he didn’t see Shiro’s kick in time and he hit the mat, hard. He groaned, laying back pathetically.

“So, you going to tell me what has you so distracted?” Shiro asked, crouching down next to Keith’s face. Keith audibly growled.

“ _Lance.”_

Shiro hummed, nodding. “Right, what did he do this time?”

“Just… _everything?_ He’s brash and unfocused, he doesn’t take a _ny_ of this seriously and he keeps trying to flirt with Allura and any alien vaguely female shaped. He’s such a gods damn _fuckboy_ and it grates on my nerves,” he said, angrily.

Present Lance felt the bottom of his stomach fall out in shock and he bit his lip to try and keep the words from sinking too deep. Present Keith cringed, too.

“Keith, maybe if you just gave him a chance to prove himself a little. We have only been paladins for a few months. That’s a _lot_ to process for someone as young as Lance. Especially one with so much family still left on Earth,” Shiro said, deciding to go ahead and sit himself down.

“And there’s probably more to the story.”

“Of course there is. You don’t think I can see that he has unmedicated ADHD? Trust me, I relate to a lot of that while being on the spectrum-,” and Lance had absolutely next to zero ticks to absorb that _life-changing_ detail about Keith before: “but that’s still not an excuse. He’s only been a complete asshole to me since we met.”

“Wait, woah, hold on-,” Present Lance said, cutting in and waving his hands to pause the scene. “You’re _autistic?!”_

Present Keith nearly flinched as his shoulders came up to his ears. His eyes and colors churned with unmitigated _terror._

 _“_ I-well, by human standards that’s what they told me. I don’t know if maybe my Galra genes just presents really similarly in behavior as those on the spectrum on Earth. I was diagnosed when I was thrown into my first foster home. But…I don’t know…I guess so?”

“Why…why did you never tell me?” Lance asked, finally realizing that a lot of Keith’s inner emotions seemed like what he’d heard about those that were on the spectrum on Earth.

“I…I thought you’d…you’d think of me as…” Keith said, getting quieter and red rolling tendrils being pulled farther into his chest, away from Lance. “As how people saw me on Earth. You know… _w-wrong a_ nd-and retar-,”

“ _No.”_

Lance’s firm cut off made Keith clam up again and he hunched in on himself. Lance quickly came over to gently raise Keith’s chin.

“ _Mi alma,_ I would _never_ think that of you. You completely took my ADHD in stride and never even commented about it. You never called me ditsy or too much, even when we fought all the time,” he said, softly.

“Honestly, it makes me feel so much closer to you. Look at us: peak ADHD/autism solidarity.”

Keith slowly unfurled and then quietly chuckled. “I always thought that we could…I don’t know. Relate to each other. If we got over ourselves. I’m sorry I said all that about your focus.”

“It’s just fine, _gatito._ It’s all pretty true. _”_

The scene changed again around them, but suddenly it was one of Lance’s memories. He was hanging out in Pidge’s workshop with her and Hunk, handing over tools and such. He was in the middle of a rant.

“-and _then_ the guy has the _gall_ to tell me that my skincare regiment wasn’t doing anything at all! Like who _says_ that to a person?! So in conclusion, Keith is one right _bastard.”_

Present Lance sighed at his past dramatics. Keith, rather than looking amused by it, actually frowned and crossed his arms.

Pidge looked up from her computer. “Keith has always been really cool with us, though?”

“Uh, no he hasn’t! He basically told you right to your face that your _missing family_ didn’t matter. He’s completely without any real human emotions other than s _ass-sass_ and _stab-stab._ Like who raised that guy? I’d like a few words with his mother,” Lance said, shaking his head.

Present Lance flinched at the exact same time that Keith did. Past Hunk looked up with an alarmed expression.

“Lance…do you actually not know?” he asked, quietly.

Lance looked up from where he was idly tinkering with a gadget in his hands. He blinked a few times.

“Know what?”

Pidge and Hunk exchanged a glance. Pidge turned around bodily and looked very serious.

“Keith found me after he said that stuff about my family and explained. He’s an orphan, Lance. That’s why he didn’t relate to my problem very much. It took me having to actually describe it like if Shiro hadn’t been found instead. He then apologized a whole lot and offered to clean Green for a week to make up for it. He looked like he sucked on a lemon when he said so, but that’s still not ‘without human emotion’. He’s just…got some walls up,” she said, shrugging.

Past Lance gaped and his eyes bulged. “Wait…what _kind_ of orphan? Like the kind at the beginning of Annie where they are in horrible abusive conditions and ratty clothes or the end where she gets adopted by the rich guy and gets spoiled for the rest of her life?”

“That’s your frame of reference for an orphan?” Keith interrupts.

Present Lance grumbled. “Shut up, I was still trying to figure myself out.”

“Considering how Keith is…and the fact we found him in a hobbled shack alone in the desert at the ripe old age of eighteen…why don’t you take a wild guess?” Pidge asked, sarcastically.

Past Lance was then the one to look like he sucked on a lemon. “Okay, fine. Maybe…that explains a few things. But they’re not an _excuse_ for him being such an asshole all the time _._ I know that I get too much and I’m annoying…but I genuinely t _ry not to be._ And I don’t immediately jump in to excuse it because of my ADHD…which I don’t have my meds for anymore in the middle of quiznacking _space.”_

“You don’t actually _dislike_ Keith, do you? For so long, I thought it was like a…friendly rivalry. Frenemies, if you will,” Hunk said, waving a hand.

Lance sighed. “Okay. Seriously? I don’t…know. I don’t think I do. There’s just…something about him that drives me crazy. I stop thinking straight around him. Like being in his vicinity brings out both the best and the absolute worst in me. For real? I’m kind of tired of the constant bickering and fighting. I don’t actually want to keep it like this. I just…”

He hesitated, Present Lance genuinely not recalling everything that he said and hanging on word for word.

“I just wish we could get somewhere where we can…just _understand_ each other better. Like how we are together in Voltron. All five of us, with one goal. But like…just him and me. Something to break the ice. We’re both so bad at communication though, so maybe it’ll just be like this forever.”

Lance’s entire stomach flipped over itself in shock and he stumbled back. Present Lance and Keith gasped in unison. Lance turned and grabbed Keith by the shoulders, as he scrambled to grab back.

“Holy shit?! _Holy shit?!”_ Lance exclaimed with an emphasis by shaking Keith a little. “Did that-did I really- _Keith, oh my gods-?”_

Keith grabbed his face and nodded feverishly. “Of course, it was _you._ You wished our whole ass bond into existence, didn’t you? Could never just do the easy thing and _talk_ to me like a normal person, huh?”

Lance giggled, eyes burning with tears. “I’ve always wanted to know you better. I knew that whatever my problem with you was more than just jealousy. Gods, Keith…I’m so, s _o_ sorry for being such an asshole for so long. I don’t think any of this anymore. You’re the most amazing person I’ve ever met.”

“No more apologies. All this is in the past. I’m so unbearably happy with you now. Nothing else matters,” Keith said, gently.

“Gods, I really don’t deserve you,” Lance whispered, sniffling.

“I could never want anyone else. I’ll spend the rest of my life trying to prove that I deserve _you,”_ Keith said, leaning in and kissing away a few dream tears.

“I don’t know how to tell you that it’s already been proven. You’re the absolute best… _boyfriend_ in existence,” Lance said, giggling. “Although…sometimes I feel like ‘boyfriend’ is such a…small word for what you are to me.”

“I feel like you’re my _Everything,”_ Keith whispered, reverently.

“My Everything,” Lance agreed, wholeheartedly.

They swept each other up in a long kiss, Lance’s previous worries about baring himself completely to Keith completely dashed. Through their colors, he could tell Keith was finally open to him, too.

Without even having to speak, they knew they were finally ready to let go of the past and take the next step together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> bitch im a sucker for Autistic!Keith and ADHD!Lance but i'm a little more hesitant always to make keith autistic, because i can draw my own experiences for ADHD Lance...but I have always thought a lot of Keith's reactions in cannon are pretty similar to what i've heard and read from those on the spectrum so i decided why not


	43. Chapter 43: Finale

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance and Keith solidify their bond forever and look to the future

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> we have just one explicit scene that was just implied in this chapter and it'll be added later today in a separate part, but yeah, this is the last chapter!!  
> if you're just now reading this, this is the last part to the special Keith Birthday Chapter Dump and the first part was chapter 41 so go on back to read it!!

Lance and Keith stared at each other for a long time after the memory sharing that time. Something had changed deeply in their cores. Like there was a new inner peace. Like they both finally found their stability.

Keith breathed out steadily, absorbed into blue eyes and wanting to finally show Lance just how much he means to him.

“Are we…?” Lance asked, as soft in the quiet air around them as possible.

Keith nodded. “I…want to now. I think that right there…I’m not afraid of showing you everything anymore. If you…if you want to, that is.”

Lance quickly nodded back. “I want to. Very much so.”

Keith grabbed both Lance’s hands and drifted back to shore, heart pounding with anticipation. Lance stared as Keith finally let his hands roam over Lance’s skin without reservation.

“Is this okay?” Keith asked, just because he actually _loved_ hearing Lance’s verbal consent.

Lance grinned wide, cheeks and ears turning darker in color. “Yeah. Everything’s okay.”

Keith reached up to cup the blushing cheeks and kissed Lance softly. They moved slowly over to the bedding on the ground, colors rushing over them in excitement and _love._ Almost every color one could think of, the blues and reds, the pinks and yellows, the oranges and navy welcomed new colors: a velvety inky black and white, a green forest and then the one right between them.

A deep, royal purple.

Of course it was, how could they think they would come together as one and not produce a rich purple overlay?

Keith breathed in the purple as they stripped themselves bare in front of each other for the first time and then Keith relaxed into his vulnerable role between them. He let himself feel safe and secure in Lance’s embrace and their minds entwined so deeply and intimately as well as their bodies.

When they spoke to each other, they found their comfort in knowing how the other wanted to be. They wanted more than just the release of frustration, they wanted to consume every single form the other could take. The darkest, deepest parts of their minds could finally be reached.

Keith wanted to memorize every part of Lance: mind, body and soul.

And so he did.

He stared into Lance’s soul first, finding the colors amidst the storm. He knew Lance’s soul the best. In truth, it might have been the simplest part of Lance. His outward quintessence was offered up on a platter for him months before. It was then that he decided to finally commit it to his memory forever.

Next, within that safe space of the crystal caves, he mapped out Lance’s body. It was new territory for Keith, so he spent a lot more time doing so. He loved on each extremity, found ways to know even the smallest of nooks and crannies. Lance didn’t mind at all, in fact he was quite verbal in his affirmation of pleasure. Keith loved that, too.

And finally, it culminated into the most important one that had alluded Keith for so long. Lance’s innermost mind. The intricate weaving of thoughts and ideas, that fueled actions and expressions. The mannerisms that come from somewhere. Arguably, the part of Lance that Keith would be the most connected to had always been such an enigma.

And then when they finally sighed in unison after they had completed the most intimate act they had ever felt in their lives, it happened.

An explosion of colors actually retreated into their minds and then Keith heard it.

No…his head heard it. But nothing was actually spoken aloud.

 _‘This is the most magnificent man that has ever been created’_ floated through his mind on a reel, sounding nothing like his own narrative thoughts.

_‘Woah…Lance?’_

Lance froze as he had been collapsed against the length of his body. He rose to his hands over Keith with wide eyes.

 _‘Can you hear me?’_ Lance’s thoughts projected right into his head.

Keith nodded physically. Lance gasped audibly and then a barrage of thoughts entered Keith’s head. It took on a more panicked tone and rush as it kept going, getting faster and faster.

 _‘Holy shit, I can’t believe it?! AH, can he hear everything? Oh gods, that might get really awkward because I think about Keith like quiznacking constantly, it’s just_ ‘Keith, Keith, Keith’, _fuck, oh gods, he’s going to get so annoyed-‘_

“Lance,” Keith breathed out audibly, shaking his head. “Just calm down. It’s okay.”

He thought something insistently to Lance in response:

_‘I’m so, so fucking happy right now. I love you so, so much. You’re now literally everything to me. I love hearing your thoughts and knowing your colors and feeling your body against my skin. We were made for each other. My Everything.’_

Lance sucked in a breath as his arms shook next to him. Blue eyes filled with tears and Lance fell forward to sob quietly into Keith’s skin. He could feel that Lance was easily overwhelmed by everything that had just happened and what they had just done.

But then, there was a thought from both of them:

_‘Are we finally bonded completely?’_

It was an important one to acknowledge, as them staying in the caves was until the point they felt ready and their bond was established completely forever. Keith could feel the deepest parts of Lance’s psyche brush up against his own. He felt like there wasn’t any other way they could be bonded further.

And yet, Keith was reluctant to leave.

Something kept him rooted under Lance’s embrace, as though he felt like there was more to do. Something was still missing. A finality of sorts.

Their bonding sessions had gone from their past into their present.

But Keith wanted to look to their future.

So, after they ate and they talked some more (in both their heads and audibly). They went and showered, worshipping each other’s bodies like a loving maze to forever explore. They slept for a few hours and then, Keith offered up one last session.

The caves didn’t direct them anywhere, this time they distinctly chose to venture out into the confounding waters. They went without a single layer over their skin. The time for hiding away under veils was over.

Keith pulled Lance to situate in the middle of the pools, as the crystals glowed around them to bathe them in white light.

Lance smiled gently to him and then they actually kissed their way into their minds one last time.

The scene swirled into a bright image around them.

Keith was not surprised at all for what they found.

The scenes were without dialogue, with some vague _feelings_ attached. There wasn’t any problem that there was no sound, instead it was like a steady background music. Keith could hear the edges of Spanish words and alien garble. English flitted in and out like being heard from the other room.

Future Lance and Keith were attached at the hip as they were walking around the castle. They had their own room near Allura’s, in which they obviously spent a lot of time in. The scene shifted into the training room, where they sparred against each other with fervor, shirts off and with skin glistening with sweat.

They kissed and the scene changed around them, adding armor and grit. There was a battle raging around them, so they separated quickly and produced their bayards in their usual form. They fought back-to-back, a deadly team.

Suddenly, Lance bent forward and Keith used the leverage to flip over his back. They then exchanged sparkling eye contact, switching not only positions, but bayard forms. Keith’s bayard sparked into twin short pistols and Lance’s sparked into a longsword.

They weren’t just a good team. They were an _excellent_ team.

The scene smoked once again.

Voltron’s paladins were standing side by side on a stage, large banners waving behind them. Every single one of them was present, alive and well. It took one single look to see they were actually on Earth. The paladins all looked older, but not by much. A few more scars littered over their faces, some hair had been cut shorter, others lay in waves longer than their present counterparts.

It was a celebration, one filled with visible triumph and victory. The war looked to be won. They looked to be done with their duty as paladins. They looked ready to move on to bigger, better things.

This future version of Lance smiled into the crowd, waving enthusiastically to a large group of similar looking people. Lance had a new scar on his neck, with a new undercut style to his hair. The future version of Keith looked on him fondly (longer braid down his shoulder and a new scar over his cheek), stepping up close to entwine their fingers. Lance didn’t even look startled, instead turned to whisper gently in Keith’s ear. Keith nodded, capturing Lance’s lips to kiss gently in front of millions.

The scene smoked into another, a house that looked vaguely futuristic and with technology involved in new things. Keith looked older once more, but rather more at peace. Gently swaying in a kitchen as he mouthed words that were silent to ghostly onlookers. A mess of ingredients littered the counters around him as he seemed to be cooking something.

A pitter patter echoed softly and then two little creatures raced into the room, as Future Keith grinned in delight. He bent down to sweep one into his arms, Present Keith getting a better look at their faces.

The little boy in Keith’s arms looked to be younger than ten-years-old and also looked visibly Galra. A dark purple tinge to his skin and bat-like ears moving rapidly on his head. The little girl at Keith’s other side, speaking rapidly in a garbled Spanish song voice, was also alien in nature. Her skin had a lovely lilac color, with long appendages flowing from her head like sea anemones.

Future Keith spoke to the children with warmth and fondness and overwhelming _love_ and affection. It brought tears to Present Keith’s eyes. A new addition poked their head in from the door.

Future Lance was also older, but more sturdy and with a bit more chiseled features. A scruffy five o’ clock shadow painted over his chin and jawline, a handsome change that Keith loved more than anything.

Future Keith turned to him and Present Keith could finally spy the jewelry on their fingers. Twin gold rings decorated their fingers. Future Lance grinned brightly to the little girl and hurried to sweep her off her feet. The two parents played with their children, as they looked to each other and smiled fondly.

The scene shifted once more, into a backyard of sorts.

The ocean was in view, the grass just a bit more pale green than what could be found on Earth. A bright star-lit sky painted over their heads. There were about four moons in the orbit around this planet. The current Voltron paladins gathered, all much older and with many, many more additions.

Children of all ages ran around the grass, humans, aliens, Olkari, Galra, Balmeran, etc, etc. Lance’s family, Adam West, the Holt family all still alive and safe, Allura and Coran, including even more Alteans that they’d never seen before. Even a strange teleporting giant wolf alien playing with a bigger Akira tiger.

They all laughed together, sang together, loved together. The images of instruments being brought out mixed in with music that connected with all kinds of languages that some knew and some didn’t. But none of it mattered.

In the family they could see, no matter how alien or otherwise you were, there was love. There was belonging. And there was peace.

One last scene shift swirled their vision into an entirely silent scene.

It was the two of them, now much, much older.

It was a bedroom, filled over the walls with pictures upon pictures. Of all kinds of faces with names that had yet to be known. Future Keith and Lance were all snuggled up in bed, wrinkles covering over their faces and gray hairs short against their heads. They were sitting up together, with an open photo album on their legs.

They were sharing memories.

Lance was telling a story by the looks of it, hands brandishing over the air as always. Keith was watching on, a soft gentle smile on his features. Keith laughed at something Lance said, as he added in something, pointing to the pictures with an indication.

Future Lance laughed too, nodding and agreeing. Keith leaned forward and kissed his Everything, softly and gently. They whispered together, then closed the book.

Present Lance and Keith never even spoke about it, choosing instead to lay their heads gently together and smiling at what could be their future.

“It’s time to go, isn’t it?” Lance whispered, looking a little disappointed.

“Yeah,” Keith said, as they floated back into their bodies. “But it’s okay. Because, I think we have really good days ahead of us.”

As they kissed one last time in the pools under the surface of Xeronrossthenfoundlen, both of them swirled through loving whispers in their minds.

There was a long way to go in the war just yet. They had obviously rough times in their futures. But the bond showed them what could be their best times. What could be made into their brightest days.

And both Lance and Keith were ready.

Both of their favorite colors transformed into a hopeful violet purple that day and they knew that was probably going to stay that way forever.

Living in the brightest colors known in the universe gave you just a bit of hope for the future and beyond.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AND THAT'S IT FOLKS  
> this fic has been a really special thing for me to write, boy oh boy did i not know how long it'd get but i'm actually really proud of what it's become
> 
> i never thought about the numbers or anything, but i really am so glad that some people have enjoyed this. it was pretty much a labor of love and i loved every single comment or kudo. those meant a whole lot to me!!
> 
> it's pretty hard sometimes to think I'm writing for a fandom that's been sort of dying since the show's dumpster fire end, but don't worry yet!! klance still owns my soul somehow so this won't be my last. i'm still writing for I call it magic and i've been sitting on one that's really got me excited so stay tuned for that!! 
> 
> if you want the full explicit scene that's implied in this chapter, go read it in the next part!!


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